Henry J. Aaron
{{short description|American economist and health care expert who works at the Brookings Institution}}
{{Infobox person
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Henry Jacob Aaron
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1936}}
| birth_place =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = American
| education = University of California, Los Angeles
Harvard University
| occupation = Policy analyst, economist
| employer = Brookings Institution
| known_for = Healthcare policy analysis
| boards = Center on Budget and Policy Priorities,
Social Security Advisory Board
}}
Henry Jacob Aaron (born 1936) is an American policy analyst and economist. He is the Bruce and Virginia MacLaury Senior Fellow in the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institution, where he has been employed since 1968.{{cite web|title=Henry J. Aaron |url=https://www.brookings.edu/experts/henry-j-aaron/ |publisher=Brookings Institution |access-date=9 July 2019 |date=2016-05-04 }} He served as director of the program from 1990 through 1996.
Aaron was nominated to the Social Security Advisory Board (SSAB) by President Barack Obama, receiving confirmation to the post by the United States Senate in 2014. He served as chairman of the Board of the SSAB.{{cite news|title=Update: New Social Security Advisory Board Members Confirmed|url=https://news.yahoo.com/social-security-advisory-board-members-confirmed-224600132.html|access-date=20 April 2015|agency=Social Security Advisory Board|publisher=Yahoo News|date=September 9, 2014}} He has been a proponent of a single-payer health care system,{{cite book|last1=Rivlin|first1=Alice|title=Reviving the American Dream: The Economy, the States & the Federal Government|url=https://archive.org/details/revivingamerican00rivl|url-access=registration|date=1992|publisher=Brookings Institution Press|isbn=9780815791683|page=[https://archive.org/details/revivingamerican00rivl/page/163 163]}}{{cite news|last1=Fitzgerald|first1=Jay|title=Costs derail Vermont's dream of a single-payer health plan|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/01/25/costs-derail-vermont-single-payer-health-plan/VTAEZFGpWvTen0QFahW0pO/story.html|access-date=20 April 2015|publisher=Boston Globe|date=January 25, 2015}} though he has questioned the feasibility of implementation in the United States.{{cite news|last1=Aaron|first1=Henry|title=The impossible (pipe) dream|url=https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/the-impossible-pipe-dream-single-payer-health-reform/|access-date=19 July 2017|publisher=Brookings Institution|date=January 26, 2016}}
In 2010, Aaron was awarded the Daniel M. Holland Medal by the National Tax Association in recognition for lifetime achievement in taxation and public finance.{{cite web |url=https://ntanet.org/awards/daniel-m-holland-medal/|title=Daniel M. Holland Medal |website=National Tax Association |access-date=May 24, 2025}}
Career
Aaron graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles and received a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. From 1967 until 1989, in addition to his role at Brookings, Aaron taught at the University of Maryland. From 1977 to 1978, he was Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and the next year, he chaired the Advisory Council on Social Security. From 1996 to 1997, Aaron was a Guggenheim Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.
Aaron received the 2007 Robert M. Ball Award for Outstanding Achievements in Social Insurance.{{cite news|last1=Gray|first1=Johanna|title=Henry J. Aaron|url=http://www.nasi.org/about/spotlight/henry-aaron|access-date=20 April 2015|publisher=National Academy of Social Insurance}}
On September 8, 2014, Aaron's nomination by President Barack Obama to be Chairman of the Social Security Advisory Board was confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 54–43.{{cite web |url=http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r113:S08SE4-0019: |title=Congressional Record 113th Congress (2013-2014) |work=THOMAS |access-date=September 18, 2014 |archive-date=December 15, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191215215129/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r113:S08SE4-0019: |url-status=dead }}
Aaron concluded that rationing of healthcare was necessary.{{cite news|last1=Aaron|first1=Henry|title=A healthcare prescription that's hard to swallow|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-jan-30-oe-aaron30-story.html|access-date=20 April 2015|work=Los Angeles Times|date=January 30, 2006}}
Affiliations
Aaron is a member of the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the advisory committee of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. He has been vice-president and member of the executive committee of the American Economics Association and president of the Association of Public Policy and Management. He has also served on the board of trustees of Georgetown University and the board of directors of the College Retirement Equity Fund.{{cite web|url=http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/experts/aaronh/aaronh_bio.pdf |title=Henry J. Aaron |work=www.brookings.edu |access-date=November 7, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111223104155/http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/experts/aaronh/aaronh_bio.pdf |archive-date=December 23, 2011 }} He serves on the board of directors of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.{{cite web|title=Henry Aaron |url=http://siepr.stanford.edu/Henry.Aaron |publisher=Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research |access-date=20 April 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150427112841/http://siepr.stanford.edu/Henry.Aaron |archive-date=27 April 2015 }}
Publications
Aaron has written dozens of articles, which have been cited hundreds of times according to Google Scholar.{{Cite web |title=Henry J. Aaron |url=https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=list_works&hl=en&user=_B9v2k4AAAAJ |access-date=2020-11-10 |website=scholar.google.com}}
Some of his publications with the highest citations include:
- {{Cite book |last=Aaron |first=Henry J. |url=https://archive.org/details/sheltersubsidies00aaro |url-access=registration |title=Shelter and Subsidies: Who Benefits from Federal Housing Policies? |date=1972 |publisher=Brookings Institution |isbn=9780815700173 |location=Washington, DC |ref=none |lang=en}}
- {{Cite book |last=Aaron |first=Henry J. |url=https://archive.org/details/whopayspropertyt00aaro |url-access=registration |title=Who Pays the Property Tax? A New View |date=1975 |publisher=Brookings Institution |isbn=9780815700227 |series=Studies of Government Finance, Second Series |location=Washington, DC |oclc=1504973 |id={{ERIC|ED132676}} |ref=none |lang=en}}
- {{Cite journal |last1=Auerbach |first1=Alan J. |last2=Aaron |first2=Henry J. |last3=Hall |first3=Robert E. |date=1983 |title=Corporate Taxation in the United States |journal=Brookings Papers on Economic Activity |volume=1983 |issue=2 |pages=451–513 |doi=10.2307/2534295 |issn=0007-2303 |jstor=2534295 |url=https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/1983/06/1983b_bpea_auerbach_aaron_hall.pdf |ref=none |lang=en}}
- {{Cite book |last1=Aaron |first1=Henry J. |title=The Painful Prescription: Rationing Hospital Care |last2=Schwartz |first2=William B. |date=1984 |publisher=Brookings Institution |isbn=9780815700340 |location=Washington, DC |oclc=10274789 |ref=none |lang=en |url=https://archive.org/details/painfulprescript00aaro |url-access=registration}}
- {{Cite book |last=Aaron |first=Henry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hG5guAjid5oC|title=Politics and the Professors: The Great Society in Perspective |publisher=Brookings Institution Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-8157-1777-5 |ref=none |lang=en}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{C-SPAN|4127}}
- {{cite web |last=Roberts |first=Russ |title=Henry Aaron on Health Care Costs |url=http://www.econtalk.org/archives/_featuring/henry_aaron/ |work=EconTalk |publisher=Library of Economics and Liberty |author-link=Russ Roberts |date=November 15, 2007}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Aaron, Henry J.}}
Category:American health economists
Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine
Category:Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni
Category:Center on Budget and Policy Priorities