Christopher Williams

Christopher Williams retired from the Congressional Budget Office in October 2021 after more than 30 years of service in the Macroeconomic Analysis Division. He spent that career forecasting the U.S. economy, focusing most recently on both consumer spending and incomes. He was heavily involved in the development of CBO’s primary short-term forecasting model and participated in numerous analytic studies of policy impacts on the economy. He recently studied the impact of the Chinese economy on U.S. interest rates, the causes of the falling share of labor income, and the impacts of the pandemic on consumer behavior. Christopher served on the board of the Society of Government Economists during the 1990s, stepping down in 1999 after a term as President. Prior to working at CBO, Christopher held research positions at the University of Warwick’s Institute of Employment Research and at the Center for Labour Economics at the London School of Economics. His first job after college in 1981 was as a speechwriter to Rt. Hon. Roy Jenkins, leader of the United Kingdom’s newly-formed Social Democratic Party.

Christopher holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Warwick, a Master’s Degree in Public Affairs (with Distinction in Economics and Public Policy) from Princeton University, and a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University. His children (Clement and Bracklinn) both attended GEDS for nursery and pre-kindergarten as well as GEDS summer camps. They went on to complete elementary school in MCPS public schools. Clement graduated from Saint Anselm’s Abbey school in D.C., while Bracklinn attended MCPS magnet programs in both middle and high school.
Christopher was baptized into the Church of England, attended Sunday School, and became a fourth-generation chorister. He attended a church-sponsored primary school, then as a teenager he chose to attend church and seek confirmation, and later became an adult chorister. During the 1990s, Christopher moved to his neighborhood parish of Grace from St. Margaret’s in D.C.