Benjamin H. Harris is an American economist who has served in several public-service positions, most notably as the Chief Economist and Chief Economic Advisor to Vice President Joe Biden from 2014 until the end of the Obama Administration. Harris is currently the Executive Director of the Kellogg Public-Private Interface at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, the Chief Economist to the evidence-based policy organization Results for America, and the founder of the economic policy consulting firm Cherrydale Strategies. He is also a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal. Harris remained a close adviser to Joe Biden following the end of the Obama Administration, serving as the Chief Editor of the Biden Forum and as an economic adviser to the former Vice President throughout his 2020 presidential campaign. Harris’s research and policy focus includes the subjects of tax, budget and retirement security. He has published a variety of papers and policy briefs related to topics in public finance and is regularly cited in media reports related to fiscal policy.
One of Harris’ earliest roles was as a senior economist with the Budget Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. He went on to serve as a research economist at the Brookings Institution, and later as the policy director of The Hamilton Project, a fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, and deputy director of the Retirement Security Project at Brookings. Between 2011 and 2013, Harris worked at the White House as a senior economist with the Council of Economic Advisers, where he specialized in fiscal policy and retirement security. After leaving his first stint with the Obama Administration, he served as a senior research associate with the Urban Institute and the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. In December 2014, Harris returned to the White House when Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. tapped him to serve as his Chief Economist and Economic Advisor. He continued in that role through the end of the Obama Administration in January 2017. After leaving the White House, Harris went to work for Rokos Capital Management as a senior economic policy adviser. He quickly transitioned back to academic and non-profit work, serving as the chief economist to the evidence-based policy organization Results for America, chief editor of the Biden Forum, and visiting associate professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Currently, his primary positions are Executive Director of the Kellogg Public-Private Interface at Northwestern University, President of Cherrydale Strategies, in addition to his role with Results for America. Harris, who has a prominent role in shaping the economic policy platforms of Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, has been identified as one of a select group of economists regularly advising Biden. Harris was also named a member of the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force, serving as one of Biden's five delegates on the economic policy committee. In April 2020, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Harris will sit on Chicago’s COVID-19 Recovery Task Force to advise city government as economic recovery planning efforts get underway in the wake of COVID-19. Throughout his career, Harris has taught at institutions including the Kennedy School of Government, the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, and the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute. He and his wife live in the Washington, D.C., area with their three daughters.
