Stephen Moore (economist)

Stephen Moore (born February 16, 1960) is an American economic writer and policy analyst. He founded and served as president of the Club for Growth from 1999 to 2004. Moore is a former member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board. In 2014, The Heritage Foundation announced that Moore would become its chief economist. In 2015, Moore's title at Heritage changed from Chief Economist to Distinguished Visiting Fellow. Moore is known for advocating free-market policies and supply-side economics.
Moore's work continues to appear regularly in the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, and various publications including The Weekly Standard and National Review.

Moore grew up in New Trier Township, Illinois. He attended Saints Faith Hope & Charity School in Winnetka and graduated from New Trier High School in 1978. He received a B.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an M.A. from George Mason University in economics.

From 1983 through 1987, Moore served as the Grover M. Hermann Fellow in Budgetary Affairs at the Heritage Foundation. In 1987, Moore was research director of President Reagan's Privatization Commission. Moore spent ten years as a fellow of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. Moore was the senior economist of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee under Chairman Dick Armey of Texas, where Moore "was instrumental in creating the FairTax proposal".

Moore founded the Club for Growth in 1999. Moore was ousted by the group's board in December 2004, and subsequently announced his resignation. After his ouster from the Club for Growth, Moore founded the 501(c)(4) Free Enterprise Fund with other former Club for Growth members including Arthur Laffer and Mallory Factor. In 2005, Moore left the Free Enterprise Fund to serve on the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal. Moore is a partner in the econometrics firm Arduin, Laffer & Moore Econometrics. On January 21, 2014, the Heritage Foundation announced that Moore would rejoin the think tank as chief economist. Moore is a contributing editor for National Review.

In a 2014 Kansas City Star opinion piece entitled "What's the matter with Paul Krugman?" Moore responded to Krugman's opinion piece entitled "Charlatans, Cranks and Kansas." In his piece, Moore claimed that job creation had been superior in low-taxation states during the five years following the recession ending June 2009. After substantial factual errors were uncovered in Moore's opinion piece, the Kansas City Star indicated that it would no longer print Moore's work without "thorough factchecking."Jonathan Chait, in his New York magazine column, in response to Moore's February 15, 2015 Washington Times column on Obamacare, stated "Perhaps the most revealing aspect of Moore’s column is the fact that, five years after its [Obamacare's] passage, the chief economist of the most influential conservative think tank in the United States [the Heritage Foundation] lacks even a passing familiarity with its [Obamacare's] fiscal objectives".

In May 2015, Moore cofounded the Committee to Unleash American Prosperity with Arthur Laffer, Larry Kudlow, and Steve Forbes with the stated mission of, "persuading the presidential hopefuls in both parties to focus on the paramount challenge facing our country: slow growth and stagnant incomes."

Moore served as one of the top economic advisers to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

After President-elect Donald Trump answered a congratulatory phone call from democratically elected President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen on December 2, 2016, Stephen Moore said "We gotta stand by Taiwan. We see what's happening in China the way they're saber-rattling out there in the East, it's about time we do what Reagan did, we stand up to these bullies, we say we're not gonna let you do this." He emphasized Taiwan is a country deserved greater American support because of its democratic system and "We ought to back our ally, and if China doesn't like it, screw 'em."

Moore has three sons.