Jason J. Fichtner, PhD

Jason J. Fichtner is Chief Economist at the Bipartisan Policy Center. His research focuses on Social Security, federal tax policy, federal budget policy, retirement security, and policy proposals to increase saving and investment.

He is Executive Director of the Retirement Income Institute, Alliance for Lifetime Income. Fichtner is on the Board of Directors for the FINRA Investor Education Foundation and the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI), and a Member of the Puerto Rico Pension Reserve Trust, where he serves on both the Pension Benefits Council and the Pension Reserve Board. Fichtner is also affiliated with Stanford University as a Policy Fellow with the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy (SIEPR) and a Research Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Financial Security (CFS).

Fichtner has significant government experience, having served in several positions at the Social Security Administration, including as Deputy Commissioner of Social Security (acting), Chief Economist, and Associate Commissioner for Retirement Policy. He also served as a senior economist with the Joint Economic Committee of the US Congress and as an economist with the Internal Revenue Service. He has held teaching positions at Johns Hopkins University – School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Georgetown University and Virginia Tech.

His work has been featured in the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Investor’s Business Daily, the Los Angeles Times, the Atlantic, and USA Today, as well as on broadcasts by C-SPAN, PBS, NBC, NPR, and SiriusXM.

Fichtner earned his BA from the University of Michigan; his MPP from Georgetown University; and his PhD from Virginia Tech.

Fichtner is the author of “The Hidden Cost of Federal Tax Policy” and the editor of “The Economics of Medicaid.”