# Kevin Hassett **Kevin Allen Hassett** (b. 1962) is the [[American Enterprise Institute]] economist who served as **chairman of Trump's Council of Economic Advisers** (2017–2019) and currently serves as **Director of the National Economic Council** (2025–present) — the most prominent example of the AEI-to-White-House pipeline in the [[Supply-Side Economics]] network. Hassett was the **intellectual architect of the [[Tax Cuts and Jobs Act]]'s corporate tax cut** — the reduction of the corporate rate from 35% to 21% that was the legislation's centerpiece and its most consequential provision for corporate shareholders and executives. He is also the co-author of *Dow 36,000* (1999), a book arguing that stocks were massively undervalued — published just before the dot-com crash wiped out trillions in market value. For the Right Wing KB, Hassett represents the **credentialed wing** of the supply-side apparatus: a PhD economist from the University of Pennsylvania, a former [[Federal Reserve]] staff economist, and a two-decade [[American Enterprise Institute]] scholar who provides academic respectability to the same tax-cutting agenda that [[Larry Kudlow]] promotes on television and [[Stephen Moore]] promotes in op-eds. Where Kudlow is the cheerleader and Moore is the propagandist, Hassett is the guy with the regression tables. ## Background Kevin Hassett was born on **March 20, 1962**. He earned his B.A. from Swarthmore College and his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania. His academic career began at Columbia Business School (assistant professor, 1989–1993; associate professor, 1993–1994), after which he served as a **senior economist at the [[Federal Reserve]] Board of Governors** (1992–1997) — a position that gave him technical credibility in monetary and fiscal policy. In 1997, Hassett joined the [[American Enterprise Institute]], where he spent two decades building the policy research infrastructure for corporate tax reform. He became director of AEI's economic policy studies in 2003, overseeing the think tank's supply-side policy output through the [[Bush Tax Cuts]], the [[2008 Financial Crisis]], and the Obama years. ## *Dow 36,000* (1999) Hassett's most embarrassing credential. Co-authored with James K. Glassman, *Dow 36,000: The New Strategy for Profiting from the Coming Rise in the Stock Market* (1999) argued that stocks were drastically undervalued and that the Dow Jones Industrial Average would reach 36,000 within three to five years. The book was published in October 1999 — five months before the dot-com bubble burst. The [[Dow Jones]] didn't reach 36,000 until November 2021, twenty-two years later. The book illustrates the optimistic bias endemic to supply-side economics: the assumption that markets are always poised for growth, that downside risks are overblown, and that the main barrier to prosperity is insufficient market confidence. It's the same optimism [[Larry Kudlow]] deploys on television — and it's analytically identical to [[Eugene Fama]]'s efficient market hypothesis applied as investment advice. ## The Corporate Tax Cut Architecture Hassett's most consequential policy work was his research arguing that the burden of corporate taxes falls primarily on workers through lower wages — not on shareholders through lower returns. His influential 2006 paper with Aparna Mathur estimated that a 1% increase in corporate tax rates was associated with nearly a 1% drop in wage rates across 72 countries. This research became the intellectual foundation for the [[Tax Cuts and Jobs Act]]'s corporate rate cut. The argument's political utility is obvious: if corporate taxes hurt workers, then cutting corporate taxes helps workers — transforming what looks like a giveaway to corporations into a pro-worker policy. The [[Heritage Foundation]], [[American Enterprise Institute]], and the supply-side media ecosystem promoted this framing relentlessly during the 2017 tax debate. Critics noted that Hassett's estimates were far higher than most academic research supported, and that the promised wage gains from the [[Tax Cuts and Jobs Act]] largely failed to materialize — instead, corporations used the tax savings for stock buybacks and dividends, benefiting shareholders, not workers. ## Council of Economic Advisers (2017–2019) [[Donald Trump]] appointed Hassett as the 29th chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in September 2017. In that role, Hassett served as the administration's senior in-house economist, providing the technical arguments for the [[Tax Cuts and Jobs Act]] and defending its projected growth effects. The CEA under Hassett produced projections claiming the corporate tax cut would increase GDP growth to 3–5% per year and raise median household income by $4,000–$9,000 annually. These projections were well above the [[Congressional Budget Office]]'s estimates and were criticized by mainstream economists, including former Democratic and Republican CEA members, as unrealistic. Hassett left the CEA in June 2019. The promised growth surge had not materialized: GDP growth in 2018 was 2.9% and in 2019 was 2.3% — respectable but nowhere near the 3–5% the administration projected. ## National Economic Council Director (2025–present) In November 2024, Trump selected Hassett to return as **Director of the National Economic Council** for his second administration, succeeding [[Larry Kudlow]]'s first-term tenure. The role expanded Hassett's portfolio from economic analysis (CEA) to policy coordination (NEC), making him the president's top economic advisor and the coordinator of domestic and international economic policy. The NEC position does not require Senate confirmation. In this role, Hassett coordinates the second Trump administration's economic agenda alongside Treasury Secretary [[Scott Bessent]], including trade policy, tariff strategy, and the [[Big Beautiful Bill]] fiscal package. His return represents the continuity of supply-side institutional influence across both Trump terms. ## KB Significance **1. The AEI-to-White-House pipeline.** Hassett's career traces the institutional pipeline from the [[American Enterprise Institute]] (where the policy research is produced) to the White House (where it becomes executive branch policy) and back. This pipeline — parallel to the [[Heritage Foundation]]'s Project 2025 pipeline — is one of the key mechanisms through which the conservative policy ecosystem translates think-tank output into government action. **2. The corporate tax alibi.** Hassett's research claiming corporate taxes fall on workers provided the intellectual alibi for the [[Tax Cuts and Jobs Act]]'s $1.5 trillion corporate rate cut. The argument that "cutting corporate taxes helps workers" is the supply-side equivalent of [[Trickle-Down Economics]]'s "a rising tide lifts all boats" — a distributional claim that directs benefits upward while promising they'll flow downward. The post-TCJA evidence (stock buybacks, not wage growth) is the empirical rebuttal. **3. The *Dow 36,000* problem.** The book's spectacular failure is not just an embarrassment — it illustrates the supply-side movement's structural optimism bias. The same analytical disposition that produced *Dow 36,000* produced the CEA's inflated growth projections for the [[Tax Cuts and Jobs Act]]. Supply-side economics systematically overestimates the upside and dismisses the downside. **4. The two-term continuity.** Hassett's service in both the first Trump term (CEA) and the second (NEC) represents the institutional continuity of supply-side influence in the Trump administration. Despite Trump's populist rhetoric and protectionist trade policy, the core fiscal-policy apparatus — the tax-cutting, deregulatory engine — remains staffed by [[American Enterprise Institute]] and [[Heritage Foundation]] supply-siders. **5. The Republican economic advisory network.** Hassett served as economic advisor to [[John McCain]] (2000, 2008), [[George W. Bush]] (2004), [[Mitt Romney]] (2012), and [[Donald Trump]] (2017–2019, 2025–). This continuity across Republican presidential campaigns illustrates how a small network of supply-side economists circulates through the party's advisory infrastructure regardless of the candidate's other ideological commitments. ## See Also - [[American Enterprise Institute]] — Hassett's institutional home for two decades - [[Tax Cuts and Jobs Act]] — the legislation Hassett architected - [[Donald Trump]] — the president Hassett served in both terms - [[Larry Kudlow]] — co-member of Trump's supply-side economic team - [[Stephen Moore]] — the supply-side propagandist in the same network - [[Supply-Side Economics]] — the doctrine Hassett's research supports - [[Trickle-Down Economics]] — the distributional logic Hassett's corporate tax argument embodies - [[Gary Cohn]] — NEC director whose corporate tax agenda Hassett provided research for - [[Steven Mnuchin]] — Treasury Secretary alongside Hassett in Trump 1.0 - [[Scott Bessent]] — Treasury Secretary alongside Hassett in Trump 2.0 - [[Heritage Foundation]] — the parallel think-tank pipeline - [[Congressional Budget Office]] — the institution whose estimates Hassett's projections exceeded - [[Big Beautiful Bill]] — the fiscal package Hassett coordinates as NEC director - [[Trump 1.0 Cabinet Hub]] — Hassett's first administration service - [[Trump 2.0 Cabinet Hub]] — Hassett's second administration service - [[John McCain]] — presidential candidate Hassett advised - [[Mitt Romney]] — presidential candidate Hassett advised - [[Dow Jones Industrial Average]] — the index *Dow 36,000* predicted would surge