Jed David Kolko is an American economist who served as the

Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs The Office of the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, or OUSEA, is a high-ranking official in the United States Department of Commerce that serves as the principal adviser to the United States Secretary of Commerce on economic analysis. The U ...

in the

Biden administration Joe Biden's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 46th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Joe Biden, his inauguration on January 20, 2021, and ended on January 20, 2025. Biden, a member of the Democr ...

Early life and education

Kolko was raised in

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in social studies and a PhD in economics from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Career

Kolko began his career as vice president and research director of

Forrester Research Forrester Research, Inc. is a research and advisory firm. Forrester serves clients in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. The firm is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, MA with global offices in Amsterdam, London, New D ...

. From 2006 to 2011, he was the associate director of research at the

Public Policy Institute of California The Public Policy Institute of California is an independent, non-profit research institution. Based in San Francisco, California, the institute was established in 1994 by Bill Hewlett, of Hewlett-Packard, Roger Heyns, and Arjay Miller, with a ...

. He was the chief economist and vice president of analytics for

Trulia Trulia is an American online real estate marketplace which is a subsidiary of Zillow. It facilitates buyers and renters to find homes and neighborhoods across the United States through recommendations, local insights, and map overlays that offer ...

from 2011 to 2015, research advisor for

Bloomberg Beta Bloomberg Beta is an early stage venture capital firm with $450M under management, capitalized solely by Bloomberg. The fund exists to expand Bloomberg's horizons by investing in companies built by extraordinary founders that are creating profoun ...

from 2015 to 2017, and an advisor at

Orbital Insight Orbital Insight is a Palo Alto, California-based geospatial analytics company. The company analyzes satellite, drone, balloon and other unmanned aerial vehicle images, including cell phone geolocation data, to study a range of human activity, a ...

from 2015 to 2019. Kolko has also been a senior fellow at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

Terner Center for Housing Innovation. He worked as the chief economist for

Indeed Indeed, Inc. is an American worldwide employment website for job listings launched in November 2004. It is an independent subsidiary of multinational company Recruit Holdings. It is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and Stamford, Connecticut, w ...

from 2016 to 2022. Kolko has been featured as an economic specialist on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

, and

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

Biden administration

On September 13, 2021, President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

nominated Kolko to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs. Hearings were held on Kolko's nomination in the

Senate Commerce Committee The United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is a standing committee of the United States Senate. Besides having broad jurisdiction over all matters concerning interstate commerce, science and technology policy, a ...

on December 4, 2021. The committee favorably reported his nomination to the Senate floor on December 15, 2021. Kolko's initial nomination expired at the end of the year and was returned to President Biden on January 3, 2022. President Biden renominated Kolko the following day. On February 2, 2022, the committee favorably reported his nomination to the Senate floor. His nomination was confirmed by the entire Senate on April 7, 2022, via

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "by live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by respondin ...

. He was sworn in by Secretary of Commerce

Gina Raimondo Gina Marie Raimondo (; born May 17, 1971) is an American businesswoman, lawyer, politician, and venture capitalist who served as the 40th United States secretary of commerce from 2021 to 2025. As a member of the Democratic Party, she served as ...

on April 19, 2022. Kolko resigned from his position in February 2024.

Personal life

Kolko married Eric Rice, also an economist, in 2008. They live in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kolko, Jed Living people Economists from California Harvard University alumni Biden administration personnel United States Department of Commerce officials United States under secretaries of commerce University of California, Berkeley people People from Rochester, New York Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American economists American gay politicians