Biden’s Brain Trust on the Economy: Liberal and Sworn to Silence

“I think people are looking for Biden to make some commitments and show that there’s a new generation of progressive economists and thinkers who are surrounding him,” Mr. Shahid said, “and not the usual suspects in the Democratic Party.”

Kevin Hassett, a senior adviser to Mr. Trump and a former chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said Mr. Biden was allowing economists to hide their ties to him when appearing on television to discuss policy, enabling them to avoid questions about Mr. Biden’s campaign and parrot his talking points without disclosure to viewers.

“It is unethical to formally advise a candidate and publicly advocate the candidate’s views while concealing that relationship,” said Mr. Hassett, who worked on the presidential campaigns of John McCain, George W. Bush and Mitt Romney. “If he does have an economic team, then he should identify them. If he doesn’t identify them, then the advisers should, at the very least, identify themselves as Biden supporters when appearing in the media.”

Mr. Biden’s campaign responded to questions about his economic team and transparency by taking a shot at Mr. Trump’s own record of public disclosure — and management of the economy.

“Dr. Hassett and his boss should both spend less time griping over cable news coverage and more time trying to fix this mess they got us into,” said Andrew Bates, a Biden spokesman. “If they want to talk about transparency, they can feel free to release Donald Trump’s tax returns any day.”

Mr. Biden is briefed regularly by internal and outside advisers on economic issues, an effort that gained urgency amid the pandemic recession. Mr. Biden, people who have been involved in those briefings say, demands detailed presentations and often pushes back on what he is presented. As the pandemic worsened and businesses shut down in response, he has become more fixated on questions of how to preserve business dynamism and to accelerate job creation in recovery.

Campaign officials have stressed to reporters that Mr. Biden is seeking bolder and more expansive solutions to the challenges now facing a nation just beginning to climb out of a steep and swift recession. That almost certainly means adopting at least some of the more aggressive, and expensive, federal spending programs that progressives have championed.