Kevin Hassett

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Kevin Hassett is a prominent conservative economist and senior adviser in the Trump administration.

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Kevin Allen Hassett is a leading conservative economist who has advised prominent Republican politicians and policymakers for much of the early 21st century. He held senior economic roles in both administrations of U.S. President Donald Trump and was widely discussed in late 2025 as a potential successor to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, before Trump nominated Kevin Warsh in early 2026.

Hassett was born March 20, 1963, and raised in Greenfield, Massachusetts, graduating from Greenfield High School. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, and completed his Ph.D. in economics at the University of Pennsylvania.

After receiving his doctorate in 1990, Hassett spent much of that decade teaching at Columbia University’s business school and working as an economist for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

In 1999, along with coauthor James K. Glassman, Hassett drew widespread media attention with his book Dow 36,000: The New Strategy for Profiting From the Coming Rise in the Stock Market, which predicted a long-term bull market that would send stocks soaring to the title’s level by 2005. (For context, the Dow Jones Industrial Average crossed 10,000 for the first time on March 29, 1999, so predicting 36,000 was fairly audacious at the time.) The bursting of the dot-com bubble and the Great Recession disrupted the timeline, but when the Dow finally crossed 36,000 on November 2, 2021, Hassett was happy to take a victory lap, telling CNN: “The book was always about the case for holding stocks for long periods in order to reduce risk. Our first piece on this, and the book, always made it clear that nobody can predict stock movements in the short run. But over longer periods, prices go up.”

It was also around this time that he moved into the world of politics. In 1999, he joined Arizona Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign as chief economist. He went on to work as an economic adviser for President George W. Bush’s 2004 reelection bid. He later advised McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012 in their presidential campaigns. He also worked as a Treasury Department consultant during the administrations of Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Hassett’s political work solidified his credentials as a prominent conservative economist whose policy positions included a robust defense of the dollar. When Trump nominated him in 2017 to lead the Council of Economic Advisers, a group of 44 economists (including former Federal Reserve Chairs Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan) sent a letter endorsing him, saying in part: “Dr. Hassett has consistently made an effort to reach out to a wide range of people from across the ideological spectrum both to promote economic dialogue and to collaborate on research and public policy proposals.”

Hassett chaired the council from 2017 to 2019. In that role, he was a key architect of the 2017 corporate tax cuts and argued that reducing the corporate rate would boost companies’ capital expenditures. He also supported immigration policies that gave preference to highly skilled workers. He returned to the White House in 2020 as an economic adviser amid the COVID-19 pandemic; he was roundly criticized during that period for releasing a Council of Economic Advisers chart that critics said appeared to forecast deaths from the virus falling to zero by mid-May, a characterization Hassett disputed.

Hassett served as an economic adviser to Trump’s 2024 presidential bid. Following Trump’s victory, Hassett was again called on to join the administration, this time as chief of the National Economic Council.

The role significantly elevated Hassett’s public profile. As a regular on political news programs—from Fox News to Meet the Press—Hassett defended Trump policies and pronouncements with a fervor that led some to question whether he had shifted from an independent adviser to a political loyalist.

In August 2025, he defended the president’s decision to fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics after a weaker-than-expected employment report, citing “partisan patterns” and arguing that “data can’t be propaganda,” while offering no evidence to support the claim. He also echoed Trump’s calls for lowering interest rates and criticized incumbent Fed Chair Powell.

With Powell’s term up in 2026, Hassett’s name, along with former Fed governor Kevin Warsh (among others), emerged on a short list for the post. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was put in charge of the search, although the final decision would ultimately rest with Trump.

Early in the search, Hassett emerged as the front-runner, but questions about the impact of having a political loyalist in a role normally prized for its independence arose. Economists posited that Hassett, given his ties to the White House, might not have the autonomy to act in the event of an economic crisis in ways that ran counter to the president’s wishes.

Even so, Hassett made it clear what his reaction would be if offered the role, telling Fox News in November 2025: “If he were to ask me to be Fed chair, then of course I would have to say yes, because I want to serve my country and I want to serve my president.”

On January 30, 2026, Trump nominated Warsh to succeed Powell, ending speculation that Hassett might be chosen for the role.