Advisory Council

Ted Gayer

President, Niskanen Center

Ted Gayer is president of the Niskanen Center.

From 2018 to 2022, he served as executive vice president of the Brookings Institution and a senior fellow in Economic Studies. He was also vice president and director of the Economic Studies program at Brookings.

In addition to his management activities, Gayer has conducted research on a variety of economic issues, with a particular focus on public finance, environmental and energy economics, housing, and regulatory policy. He has published dozens of academic journal articles and speaks regularly on the economic outlook and economic policies to various audiences and to the local and national media.

Gayer’s background includes extensive experience in academia, government, and public policy organizations. Prior to joining the Brookings in 2009, he was associate professor of public policy at Georgetown University. From 2007 to 2008, he was deputy assistant secretary for economic policy at the Department of the Treasury. While at Treasury, he worked primarily on housing and credit market policies, as well as on energy and environmental issues, health care, Social Security and Medicare.

From 2003 to 2004, he was a senior economist at the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, where he worked on environmental and energy policies. From 2006 to 2007, he was a visiting fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, and from 2004 to 2006 he was a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.