Bernard L. Schwartz – Economic Policy Development

Brookings Institution

Washington, DC

One of the most influential policy institutes in America, the Brookings Institution analyzes current and emerging policy issues in the U.S. and abroad. Mr. Schwartz supports the Brookings Institution through a number of events aimed at promoting a vibrant discourse on American competitiveness.

Bernard L. Schwartz Forum on U.S. Competitiveness

The purpose of this initiative is to challenge a common ideology shared by many academic economists. With respect to many of the issues that face the US today, many have already adopted a view that forecasts a decline in America’s standard of living, an increasing imbalance in trade and in the effect of the acceleration of outsourcing with its consequential loss of jobs in the U.S. This thinking cites a continuing escalation of the deficit, a lower savings rate, the crushing liability of social security and pension costs, and the high cost of medical insurance. These issues may predict America’s inability to compete in a new, flat world.

However, there is an optimistic school of thought that rejects that conclusion as underestimating the strengths of the American society and its economy, its ability to transform science into the marketplace, the advantages of its free capital markets, its mobility of labor and capital, its intellectual property, its inventiveness, and its resilience. These optimists believe foreign competitors face immense social, political, and cultural challenges which will undermine their own competitiveness.

This program provides a credible forum for the open examination of these issues through a series of events and research.

Chair in Economic Policy Development

The Bernard L. Schwartz Chair in Economic Policy Development tackles some of the hardest questions in international economics, including how to address trade, technology, intellectual property rights, and an increasingly global economy while ensuring American competitiveness.

The current chair is Martin Baily, who will publish research and hold conferences and workshops that focus on forward-looking national economic priorities, among them, job creation, U.S. economic competitiveness and productivity. He will seek to identify new economic models that could lead to sustained recovery and growth, and will host an annual Schwartz Forum for policy makers and the general public where a panel of experts will explore a specific economic challenge. More on Martin Baily

The first Brookings scholar to hold the Chair was Lael Brainard, previously a Brookings senior fellow from 2001 to 2009, and served as the vice president and director of the Global Economy and Development program from June 2006 to March 16, 2009. Brainard has been nominated by President Barack Obama to be under secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs.

December 10, 2009

Schwartz Forum on U.S. Competitiveness: Infrastructure Investments, Economic Growth and Jobs

2009

Martin Baily Named the Bernard L. Schwartz Chair in Economic Policy Development

January 12, 2009

Memo to the President: Invest in Infrastructure for Long-Term Prosperity