Dr. Paul Winfree is an economist and a trusted public policy advisor who has served in top management and policy roles in the White House, the U.S. Senate, and in leading think tanks. He is widely recognized for bridging rigorous academic research with practical policymaking, having provided expert testimony before numerous U.S. Senate and House committees on economic policy.
Winfree is the Founder as well as President and CEO of the Economic Policy Innovation Center in Washington, D.C. He is also a Research Affiliate at the Queen’s University Centre for Economic History (Queen’s University Belfast), and an Advisor at the Centre for Economics, Policy and History (Trinity College Dublin and Queen’s University Belfast). His research focuses on public finance, the political economy, and U.S. economic history.
Winfree is the author of The History (and Future) of the Budget Process in the United States (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), which examines the evolution of economic and fiscal policy from colonial America to the present. His additional publications explore health economics and economic mobility, including a coauthored study for the Pew Charitable Trusts on the determinants of economic mobility in America.
Winfree served as a Distinguished Fellow in Economic Policy and Public Leadership at The Heritage Foundation and, at various times, directed Economic Policy Studies, served as the Richard F. Aster Fellow, and was acting Director of the Center for Data Analysis. Before rejoining Heritage in 2018, he was Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council at the White House, as well as Chair of the Deputies Committee that managed policy implementation across federal agencies.
Appointed by President Trump, Winfree also chaired the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. During his three terms as chair, he established partnerships that broadened Fulbright’s collaborations with the U.S. National Archives and the National Park Service, among other institutions. In 2022, he received a distinguished service award from the U.S. Department of State for his stewardship during the COVID-19 pandemic and for advancing cultural and educational exchange.
His work and commentary have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Investor’s Business Daily, USA Today, and Congressional Quarterly, among other media outlets. Winfree holds a Ph.D. in economics from Queen’s University Belfast, an M.Sc. in economic history from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a B.S. in economics from George Mason University.