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The Microeconomic Studies Division has primary responsibility for analyzing a broad range of policy issues, with an emphasis on the microeconomic foundations of the economy and on the federal government's role as a regulator, manager of resources, and provider of public goods. The division thus produces studies for Congressional committees, supports CBO's cost estimates of legislation under consideration by the Congress, and contributes to CBO's projections of budgetary and economic outcomes. Analytical areas include agriculture, commerce, energy and natural resources, the environment, federal personnel, intellectual property, public investment in infrastructure and science, telecommunications, transportation, and trade. The division also examines the effects on the private sector of prospective legislation and estimates the costs of mandates imposed on the private sector.
Joseph Kile came to CBO in June 2005, following 16 years in various positions at the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Most recently, he led the agency's Center for Economics, within the Applied Research and Methods Team--overseeing a group of economists that provided analyses and reviews of a broad range of issues. Before that, he was a senior economist and an assistant director within GAO's Office of the Chief Economist. His analyses focused, in particular, on the issues of transportation (especially aviation financing, airline competition, and air service to small communities), energy, natural resources and the environment, and the pharmaceutical industry.