Christopher DeMuth

Christopher DeMuth is a distinguished fellow at Hudson Institute, having joined Hudson in 2012. He was president of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI) from 1986 to 2008 and D.C. Searle Senior Fellow at AEI from 2008 to 2011.

Mr. DeMuth was raised in Kenilworth, Illinois, and attended the Lawrenceville School (1964), Harvard College (AB 1968), and the University of Chicago Law School (JD 1973). He served as staff assistant to President Richard M. Nixon from 1969 to 1970, working first for Daniel P. Moynihan (then assistant to the president for urban affairs) on urban affairs and then as chairman of the White House Task Force on Environmental Policy. Following law school, he practiced regulatory, antitrust, and general corporate law with Sidley & Austin in Chicago (1973–1976) and was associate general counsel of the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) in Philadelphia (1976–1977).

From 1977 to 1981, Mr. DeMuth was lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and director of the Harvard Faculty Project on Regulation. There he taught courses on law, economics, and regulatory policy and conducted and sponsored research on health, safety, environmental, and economic regulation.

Returning to Washington in 1981, Mr. DeMuth served as administrator for information and regulatory affairs in the US Office of Management and Budget, and executive director of the Presidential Task Force on Regulatory Relief, during President Ronald Reagan’s first term of office. From 1984 to 1986, he was managing director of Lexecon Inc., a law-and-economics consulting firm; in 1986, he was also publisher and editor-in-chief of Regulation magazine. He was elected president of the American Enterprise Institute in December 1986.

Mr. DeMuth’s articles, lectures, occasional talks, and audio/video discussions are posted at ccdemuth.com