Tim Kane


Timothy Joseph Kane is an American economist, currently serving as a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is a former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer with two overseas tours of duty. After leaving the service, Kane founded multiple technology firms while pursuing a Ph.D. in economics. After briefly working as a professor of economics, Kane served on the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress and was Director of the Center for International Trade and Economics at the Heritage Foundation. He was the lead editor of the 2007 Index of Economic Freedom, co-published by The Wall Street Journal and the Heritage Foundation, and is the author of the book Bleeding Talent: How the U.S. Military Mismanages Great Leaders and Why It's Time for a Revolution. Kane co-authored the book, Balance: The Economics of Great Powers from Ancient Rome to Modern America with Glenn Hubbard.
Kane was a Republican candidate in Ohio's 12th congressional district special election in 2018.

Personal life

Kane was born in Lansing, Michigan, and was raised in Columbus, Ohio. Kane attended public schools from K-12 in Columbus, and received his appointment to the United States Air Force Academy from Congressman Chalmers P. Wylie. Academically bright, he excelled at school despite growing up with relatively little income in a single parent household. Kane has cited his mother's positive attitude through her divorce and subsequent excommunication from the Catholic Church as a major influence on his development of 'optimistic economics'. He began to identify as a Republican while starting his first business, after becoming concerned with how high taxation inhibited job creation and his ability to hire staff. Kane now lives in Palo Alto, California. He has four children. He currently holds the position of co-chair of the Conte Task Force on Comprehensive Immigration Reform and is the J-P Conte Fellow in Immigration at the Hoover Institution.

Education

Between 1986–1990, Kane attended the United States Air Force Academy and earned Bachelor of Science in economics and political science. Between 1995–2001, Kane attended the University of California, San Diego, earning a PhD in economics. His dissertation was titled “The Convergence of Nations: Three Papers on International Growth”.

Career

Kane has held senior positions in various think tanks and governmental committees, in addition to setting up to two technological companies.
An intelligence officer in the US Air Force, between 1990–1995; he reached the rank of Captain, he was stationed in Japan, South Korea, and Andrews Air Force Base. In this role he also worked with the CIA, the Pentagon, and the National Security Agency.
Currently, Kane is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. Prior to his appointment at Hoover, he was the chief economist at the Hudson Institute. He was also a Senior Fellow at the Kauffman Foundation where he led the development of its first blog, www.growthology.org. Between 2004–2007, Kane was a director and research fellow at the Heritage Foundation. Kane specializes in economics, job creation, innovation, and defense economics. His work on entrepreneurship and job creation has been widely cited, specifically, in the 2011 Economic Report of the President. He creates a quarterly survey of economists and has provided commentary for The New York Times, USA Today, CNN, CNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, MSNBC, Bloomberg Television, and PBS’ Nightly Business Report.
Kane has also worked in governmental roles. Between 2004–2008, he served as both the Chief Labor Economist and the Senior Economist on the Joint Economic Committee for U.S. Congress. In these roles, he published research on monthly US employment figures, analyzed macroeconomics and taxation, and organized joint hearings on employment and fundamental tax reform.
Kane has also had success as an entrepreneur. Between 1998–2000, he was the founder and director of enonymous.com, a software company that was awarded the San Diego Software Startup of the Year award in 1999. Prior to this, he was a founder and director of Neocor Tech, LLC.

Research and publications

Congressional testimony

This is not a comprehensive list.