Jared Bernstein

In 2018, Bernstein opened a public dialogue with the proponents of the heterodox branch of economics of Modern Monetary Theory, to which Bill Mitchell, a proponent of MMT, was the first to engage.

Paul Krugman, a Nobel laureate in economics and a noted progressive columnist, argued in November 2008 that the centrist makeup of President Barack Obama's economic inner circle, the new Economic Recovery Advisory Board, could be used to "give progressive economists a voice," and he mentioned Bernstein and fellow EPI economist president Lawrence Mishel among others as progressive economists who might be suitable for the board.

In 1992, Bernstein started working as a senior official at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a liberal think tank with a focus on issues affecting low- and middle-income working people. From 1995 to 1996, he served in the United States Department of Labor as Deputy Chief Economist. He then returned to the EPI, as senior economist and director of the Living Standards Program, until he was selected by Biden. His designated job on the Vice Presidential staff is a new position, created because of "the critical nature of the economic challenges facing America." Upon his appointment, some journalists claimed that it "contrasts sharply with the more centrist views of many of president-elect Barack Obama's economic advisers."

Bernstein's books include All Together Now: Common Sense for a Fair Economy and Crunch: Why Do I Feel So Squeezed? (And Other Unsolved Economic Mysteries). He coauthored the last nine editions of The State of Working America, an ongoing analysis published since 1988 by the Economic Policy Institute, as well as coauthoring The Benefits of Full Employment: When Markets Work for People, where he states that "[l]ow unemployment by itself cannot address all the inequities in society," and advocates that "[o]ther forms of intervention are still needed to assist disadvantaged populations."

Jared Bernstein (born 1955) is a Senior Fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. From 2009 to 2011, Bernstein was the Chief Economist and Economic Adviser to Vice President Joseph Biden in the Obama Administration. He was considered to be a progressive and "a strong advocate for workers."