WASHINGTON -- Christina Romer, one of President Barack Obama's most pivotal economic advisers, is resigning from the administration and returning to her job as a professor of economics at UC Berkeley.
Romer, the head of the Council of Economic Advisers, announced her resignation Thursday, effective Sept. 3. She becomes the second high-level Obama aid to leave this summer, following the resignation of White House Budget Director Peter Orszag.
The White House cast the decision as an unsurprising one driven by family reasons; in a statement, Obama said Romer has long wanted to return to California, where her son will be starting high school in the fall.
Romer has been one of the administration's most prominent voices on the economy, making frequent appearances on