Information
Biography
Jonathan Williams is the Chief Economist and Executive Vice President of Policy at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), where he works with state policymakers, congressional leaders and members of the private sector to develop fiscal policy solutions for the states. Williams founded the ALEC Center for State Fiscal Reform in 2011 and co-authors Rich States, Poor States: ALEC-Laffer Economic State Competitiveness Index with Reagan economist Dr. Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore. Prior to joining ALEC, Williams served as staff economist at the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, authoring numerous tax policy studies.
Williams’ work has appeared in many publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Financial Times, Toronto Star and Investor’s Business Daily. He is a contributor for The Hill and a columnist at Tax Analysts, the leading provider of tax news and analysis for the global community. Williams also serves on the Advisory Board of the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) and as an adjunct fellow at the Kansas Policy Institute. He has written for the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. In addition, Williams was a contributing author of In Defense of Capitalism (Northwood University Press).
Williams has spoken to audiences across all 50 states and provided testimony for the U.S. Congress, as well as numerous state legislative bodies. His work has been featured at the federal level by The White House, the Congressional Joint Economic Committee and the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means. He is a frequent guest on talk radio shows and has appeared on numerous television outlets, including the PBS NewsHour, Fox Business News and Bloomberg News. Williams was also the recipient of the prestigious Ludwig von Mises Award in Economics.
Task Force Memberships
Authored Articles
Authored Publications
-
TABOR Turns 30: Thirty Years of Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights
What States Can Learn from the Gold Standard for State Spending Control
-
State Bonded Obligations, 4th Edition
State governments borrow for a myriad of reasons and issue various types of bonded obligations. Today, their total bonded liabilities exceed $1.23 trillion, representing just over $3,700 per person nationally.
-
Other Post-Employment Benefit Liabilities, 5th Edition
Unfunded state Other Post-Employment Benefit liabilities total $959 billion or $3,000 for every man, woman and child in the United States.
-
Unaccountable and Unaffordable, 6th Edition
Unfunded state pension liabilities total $8.28 trillion or just under $25,000 for every man, woman and child in the United States.
-
Rich States, Poor States 15th Edition
The 15th edition of ALEC’s Rich States Poor States features an evaluation of each independent state and key areas of policy in that state to better understand its economic trajectory.
-
2021 Laffer-ALEC Report on Economic Freedom, Grading America’s Governors
Who are the best governors in America? States have long been incubators of policy innovation. In that context, Governors, even those overseeing historically disadvantaged states or cooperating with unwilling legislatures,…