Linda Bilmes

Linda J. Bilmes (born 1960) is an American economist who is the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Senior Lecturer Chair in Public Policy and Public Finance at Harvard University. She is a faculty member at the Harvard Kennedy School where she teaches public policy, budgeting and public finance. She served as Assistant Secretary and Chief Financial Officer of the US Department of Commerce during the presidency of Bill Clinton.

Linda J. Bilmes
Bilmes in 2020
Former Assistant Secretary and CFO of U.S. Department of Commerce
In office
1999–2001
PresidentBill Clinton
Personal details
Born1960 (age 62–63)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materHarvard University
Harvard Business School, University of Oxford

Bilmes is credited with drawing attention to the cost of the Iraq War and to the long-term cost of caring for returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. She is the recipient of the 2008 “Speaking Truth to Power” Award from the American Friends Service Committee. Bilmes serves as the United States member of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA), appointed in 2017 by the Secretary General of the United Nations and re-appointed to a second term from 2021 to 2025. She is a contributor to the Watson Institute's Costs of War Project. She has testified to the US Congress regarding the costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the long-term consequences for providing veterans care. She co-authored the centennial study of the economic value of the US National Parks System, which established a baseline value of $92 billion for the parks and programs and co-authored a book on the economic value of national parks.

Bilmes is a faculty affiliate of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, the Taubman Center for State and Local Government, the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston. At Harvard, Bilmes founded and directs the Rappaport Greater Boston Applied Field Lab, a program in which teams of students work in local communities on budgeting and financial challenges. She leads budgeting workshops and training sessions for newly elected Mayors and Members of Congress run by the Harvard Institute of Politics. Bilmes also teaches and conducts research at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University, where she was a visiting fellow at Brasenose College. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. She is co-chair of Economists for Peace and Security and serves on the board of the Institute for Veterans and Military Families.

Early life and education

Bilmes was born in New York and raised in San Mateo, California, the daughter of Lila Yolanda Lynn and Murray Bilmes. Her adoptive stepfather is Myron Nye Humphrey. She was given the middle name "Jan" after her godmother, singer Jan DeGaetani. She attended public schools including Aragon High School. During her senior year, she worked as an intern for Governor Jerry Brown during his first term as Governor of California. Bilmes holds an artium baccalaureus degree in government from Harvard University, a master's of business administration degree from Harvard Business School and a doctor of philosophy degree from the University of Oxford. She wrote her dissertation on the financing of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

After earning a graduate business degree, she worked as a pollster and political consultant and then as a management consultant with Bain & Company until 1987. From 1988 to 1996, she worked at management consulting company The Boston Consulting Group based in London, Madrid and Moscow. As a principal at The Boston Consulting Group, Bilmes helped build the company's United Kingdom healthcare practice, launch the Madrid office, and was appointed as one of 10 Western advisors to the Russian Ministry of Privatization, where she helped to draft Russia's first healthcare financing legislation and managed public financial restructuring projects throughout Europe.

Government career

Bilmes has held senior positions in the US government including US Assistant Secretary and CFO of the United States Department of Commerce. Prior to joining the Harvard faculty, Bilmes served in government during the presidency of Bill Clinton. She was confirmed twice by the U.S. Senate, first as Assistant Secretary for Administration and Budget, and additionally as Chief Financial Officer, of the United States Department of Commerce, from 1998 to 2001. She previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Administration from 1997 to 1998. She has been appointed to several high-ranking commissions, including a Treasury Department commission to examine the viability of the Inter-American Investment Corporation. From 2009 to 2011 She served as a commissioner on the bipartisan National Parks Second Century Commission. During the Obama administration she served from 2011 to 2017 on the U.S. Department of Interior National Parks System Advisory Board and on the US Department of Labor Advisory Board on Veterans Employment and Training.

Books and publications

Bilmes is the author of several important books, book chapters and academic papers. She is co-author, with Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, of The Three Trillion Dollar War, which became a New York Times and international best-seller (W.W. Norton). She is co-author of The People Factor: Strengthening America by Investing in Public Service with W. Scott Gould. (Brookings Institution Press) and Gebt un das Risiko Zuruck with Peter Strueven and Konrad Wetzker. She is co-author with John Loomis of Valuing U.S.Parks and Programs: America's Best investment Routledge.

Articles
  • Bilmes, Linda J. (January 2007). Soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan: the long-term costs of providing veterans medical care and disability benefits. HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series. RWP07-001. Pdf.
  • Bilmes, Linda J.; Stiglitz, Joseph E. (January 2009). "Report: the $10 trillion hangover: paying the price for eight years of Bush". Harper's Magazine. 318 (1904). Non-subscription version.
  • Bilmes, Linda J. (March 2013). The financial legacy of Iraq and Afghanistan: how wartime spending decisions will constrain future national security budgets. HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series. RWP13-006. Pdf.
  • Bilmes, Linda; Intriligator, Michael D. (May 2013). "How many wars is the US fighting today?". Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy. 19 (1): 8–16. doi:10.1515/peps-2013-0011.

Personal life

Bilmes is married to Jon Hakim, a British citizen. They have three sons.

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