The XX Factor: What women really think.

The Best Economist for the Job?

Welcome, Moe, and a question: Last week, Megan McArdle of the Atlantic expressed furious dismay that Austan Goolsbee, a University of Chicago economist and former Slate columnist, would not be chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers because the Obama team wanted a woman in the post instead. McArdle was worried because she thought Cecelia Rouse was going to get the job, aruging that as a labor economist, Rouse was the wrong speciality. Maybe this is moot because, as you say, it's Christina Romer of UC-Berkeley who's chairing the CEA instead. Her expertise looks all too relevant: It includes "identification of monetary shocks" and "causes of the Great Depression." Meanwhile, Goolsbee has been out in front plenty for Obama, I'm glad to see, for one thing, because I had a great time editing him when he wrote for Slate.

So to get to my question, can we simply revel in the well-deserved rise of women to the top of Obama's economic heap, or do we have to worry that Romer leapfrogged there?