Robert J. Shapiro
Co-founder and Chairman
Sonecon, LLC
Robert J. Shapiro, the founder and chairman of Sonecon, brings broad knowledge and experience in economics and politics based on his decades of conducting analysis and providing advice to U.S. presidents, senators, representatives and governors, as well as foreign leaders and senior executives at numerous Fortune 50 and Fortune 100 companies. His views are known and respected in the United States and around the world, and he has developed numerous policies that have affected investment, taxation, regulation, trade and government spending here and abroad.
Before founding Sonecon, Dr. Shapiro was Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs (1997–2001), where he directed economic policy for the Commerce Department and oversaw the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the U.S. Census Bureau as it planned and carried out the 2000 decennial census. Before that, he was co-founder and Vice President of the Progressive Policy Institute, Legislative Director and Economic Counsel for Senator Daniel P. Moynihan, and Associate Editor of U.S. News & World Report.
Dr. Shapiro was the principal economic advisor to Bill Clinton in his 1991-1992 presidential campaign; and since then, he has advised every subsequent Democratic presidential candidate. He also advised Presidents Clinton and Barack Obama as well as senior members of their administrations and numerous members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. In addition, he has advised numerous senior executives of major U.S. and foreign businesses and major non-profit institutions.
Dr. Shapiro has been a Fellow of Harvard University, the Brookings Institution, the National Bureau of Economic Research, and an advisor to the International Monetary Fund. He received an A.B. degree from the University of Chicago, a M.Sc. from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University. He is widely published in scholarly and popular journals, and the author or co-author of three books.
Recent Events and Presentations
Dynamic Antitrust Discussion Series: Antitrust and Inflation
Watch the latest installment of the Dynamic Antitrust series, where Julie Carlson moderates a panel with antitrust and inflation experts to get their views on the relationship between corporate concentration and inflation.
Effective Corporate Tax Reform in the Global Innovation Economy
This ITIF event will examine the issue of corporate tax reform, including laying out the principles that should guide corporate tax reform given the realities of the global economy and the types of specific policy recommendations that should be considered. ITIF will also release a new report, Principles of Corporate Tax Reform in the Global Innovation Economy.
Stimulus and Investment Effects of Temporary Reduced Taxes on Repatriation
Under current tax law, U.S. companies can defer the U.S. tax on the profits earned by their foreign-based subsidiaries until they transfer those profits back to the parent company here in the United States. In their new report, Robert Shapiro and Aparna Mathur analyze the impact of temporarily reducing the U.S. tax on repatriated profits on U.S. jobs, capital investment, and the financial squeeze.
