UCLA Anderson Professor Is Appointed to the White House OMB

UCLA Anderson Professor of Strategy Wesley Yin has been appointed chief economist in the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which oversees the implementation of the president’s vision across the executive branch. Yin is also a professor at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. He joined the UCLA faculty in 2014.

In his new role, Yin heads OMB’s Office of Economic Policy, where he will help formulate President Biden’s budget and work on a wide range of issues, including national tax policy, health care and social insurance, climate policy, labor and student loans. OMB assists the president in meeting administration policy, budget and management objectives across the federal government.

“There’s the saying, ‘Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget — and I’ll tell you what you value.’ This saying resonates with me, and now more than ever at OMB,” said Yin, whose research focuses on economic inequality, health care and household finance. His recent work studies the links between health care financing and consumer financial health and well-being; as well as the consequences of health care pricing reforms, insurance marketplace design and industry market power.

To perform his government service, Yin will be on leave from UCLA during the 2023–24 academic year. He previously served on the White House Council of Economic Advisors and as the U.S. Treasury Department’s deputy assistant secretary of economic policy during the Obama administration.