Lael Brainard will take control of America’s economic nerve centre

Adimly litnecnecnec room, with a small meeting table and a desk, may not look like a focal point for America’s economy. But the director of the National Economic Council’s (’s) office, in the White House west wing, is a crucial place. Its occupant for the past two years, Brian Deese, has crafted the administration’s response to the covid-19 slowdown, inflation and China. In the coming days Lael Brainard, a board member at the Federal Reserve since 2014, will take over the poky but powerful office.Amid Washington’s formidable political machinery, at first glance the institution of the also seems puny. It is young—founded a mere three decades ago—and has only 30 staff. But it is the clearing-house for White House economic debates, helping the president set strategy. It then co-ordinates departments in the implementation of policy. With power concentrated in Joe Biden’s White House, the has gained clout compared with cabinet agencies, notably the Treasury.