Politics | Austan Goolsbee Obama's New Economic Adviser: Austan Goolsbee 'Inner circle' member will replace Christina Romer By Evann Gastaldo Posted Sep 10, 2010 10:24 AM CDT Copied President-elect Barack Obama, right, with chief economist-designate Austan Goolsbee, speaks during a news conference in Chicago, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) Austan Goolsbee will succeed Christina Romer as the chair of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers. The president made the announcement today at the beginning of his press conference on the economy; administration sources leaked Goolsbee's name last night. Goolsbee, 41, is a University of Chicago economist and member of Obama's "inner circle," the Wall Street Journal reports. He's also the chief economist for the Presidential Economic Recovery Advisory Board. "Goolsbee’s appointment will mean that all of the president’s top economic advisers—Goolsbee, National Economic Council Director Larry Summers, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner—are white men who graduated from Ivy League schools," writes Jake Tapper on ABC News. "Not that there’s anything wrong with that." Read These Next Kid Rock has added the R-word to the list of slurs he still uses. Man wakes from coma, says girlfriend crashed car on purpose. Jodi Picoult says she's first author to be banned in two mediums. Andrew Windsor has an uncertain future as a commoner. Report an error