Washington Post hires O’Brien to write about economics

The following announcement was made by Washington Post national economy and business editor Greg Schneider, deputy business editor David Cho and morning news editor Renae Merle:

We’re thrilled to announce that Matt O’Brien is joining Wonkblog as its lead voice on economic affairs. Matt comes to us from The Atlantic, where he is a senior associate editor and has developed an outstanding reputation as one of journalism’s top young thinkers on the economy, business and policy.

Matt grew up in the Washington area (his family lives in McLean), and he graduated from Harvard in 2008 with a degree in history and a secondary concentration in government. In college he co-founded an online gaming startup and spent time in the tech incubator world of Silicon Valley before heading back east for journalism. He worked at SB Nation and The New Republic before joining The Atlantic in 2012.

His sharp, authoritative writing on all things economic has drawn a growing following. Matt has a knack for capturing complicated truths in a catchy line or image. When writing about how investors bought gold during the financial crisis, he noted that “people trusted rocks more than governments to preserve value in a world short on it.” Recent statistics on cash-poor wealthy people were “a frightening reminder that there’s nothing riskier nowadays than trying to live a middle class lifestyle.“ He explained high-speed stock trading by remembering when an elderly Red Auerbach told Matt’s high school class how to get ahead in the world: “You cheat.” And don’t even get us started on the piece where Matt compared the economy to Star Wars, and Bernanke to Obi-Wan Kenobi; we still tear up thinking about that one.

In other words, Matt is going to be a memorable, powerful new voice on Wonkblog and in The Washington Post. We can’t wait until he starts April 21.