Kim Ruhl
CROWE Co-Director; Economics Department Chair; Curt and Sue Culver Chair of Economics
Professor Kim Ruhl, Co-Director of the Center, is the Department of Economics Chair and the Curt and Sue Culver Chair in Economics. From 2025–2026, Ruhl served as a Member and Acting Vice Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) in the Executive Office of the President of the United States.
Ruhl’s expertise sits at the intersection of trade policy, multinational business, and macroeconomics. His research has shed light on how businesses respond to tariffs and trade uncertainty, how large multinational firms structure their global operations, and why the gains from trade liberalization tend to build gradually rather than arrive all at once. His work is grounded in data and has informed debates on trade policy in Washington and beyond.
Ruhl’s academic research has been published in the leading academic journals and has been covered in Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal, and the Economist. Ruhl frequently speaks with academic researchers and business and policy groups, in the United States and abroad.
A Wisconsin native, Ruhl earned his undergraduate degree in economics from Bowling Green State University and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.