About Donald I am the director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center (based at the Urban Institute) and a visiting professor at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, where I teach microeconomics and public finance. None of the thoughts in my blog writings should be attributed to either organization. And, of course, I write the economics and finance blog: dmarron.com. From 2002 to early 2009, I served in various senior positions in the White House and Congress including: Member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) Acting Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Executive Director of Congress’s Joint Economic Committee (JEC) In short, I’ve been blessed to serve at some of the best acronyms in government. Before my government service, I had a varied career as a professor, consultant, and entrepreneur. In the mid-1990s, I taught economics and finance at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. I then spent about a year-and-a-half managing large antitrust cases (e.g., Pepsi vs. Coke) at Charles River Associates in Washington, DC. After that, I took the plunge into the world of new ventures, serving as chief financial officer of a health care software start-up in Austin, TX. After that fascinating experience, I started my career in public service. I received my Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and my B.A. in Mathematics a couple miles down the road at Harvard. My wife Esther and I love nature and travel. For glimpses of our recent adventures, please click on over to donaldandesther.blogspot.com. (My favorite posts are this one about wading with sharks and this one about a close encounter with humpback whales.)