J.D. Foster, Ph.D.

Dr. J.D. Foster is senior vice president, Economic Policy Division, and chief economist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He explores and explains developments in the U.S. and global economies. He also participates in discussions around the country regarding the economy and economic policy and supports other functions at the Chamber with economic analysis and guidance.

Prior to joining the Chamber in June 2013, Foster was the Norman B. Ture Senior Fellow in the Economics of Fiscal Policy at The Heritage Foundation, a longstanding nonprofit, Washington, D.C., research organization.

Before coming to Heritage in 2007, Foster spent five years as associate director for economic policy (chief economist) at the Office of Management and Budget, the White House. In 2001, Foster served as economic counsel in the Office of Tax Policy, the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Prior to that, he served as legislative director to Rep. Crane (R-IL), vice chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means of the U.S. House of Representatives.

From 1993 to 1999, Foster was executive director and chief economist of the Tax Foundation, one of the nation’s oldest and most respected nonprofit research organizations. Before that, he was chief of staff at the White House Council of Economic Advisors under Dr. Michael Boskin. Earlier he served consecutively under Sens. Armstrong (R-CO), Symms (R-ID), and Nickles (R-OK) representing them on the Senate Finance, Budget, and Policy committees.

Foster writes extensively on tax policy and entitlement reform, as well as on matters of monetary policy and international economics. He received a B.A. in economics and a B.A. in mathematics from the University of Colorado, an M.A. in economics from Brown University, and a Ph.D. in economics from Georgetown University.