Goolsbee formerly served as the Robert P. Gwinn Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business.

He was also the Chief economist and chief-of-staff to Paul Volcker at the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board—the board was formed in the wake of the 2007–2008 financial crisis.

[14][15] Goolsbee's academic research is empirical and focuses on the Internet, productivity, taxes and government policy, and inflation.

[16] He and co-author Peter Klenow of Stanford University helped develop the Adobe Digital Price Index, a comprehensive measure of online inflation.

Prior to this, he wrote the "Dismal Science" column for Slate.com, for which he won the 2006 Peter Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism.

[22] He expressed that one important goal for his presidency was to be more involved with the regional economy of the 7th District where he traveled extensively upon taking office.

He called this the 'Golden Path' and acknowledged that such an outcome would be without historical precedent but that he believed it was possible because of favorable supply-side developments at this time coupled with the Fed's credibility having kept inflation expectations from rising.

A New York Times article about the series reported "praise for Mr. Goolsbee’s performance from journalists at Politico, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist and other outlets".

He also appeared in Daily Show segments on November 11, 2009,[35] where he was interviewed by Josh Gad about whether the Cash for Clunkers program had ruined demolition derby.

On an episode airing on March 17, 2009,[36] he stated that executives at American International Group (AIG) deserved the "Nobel prize for evil" ) for their role in the 2008 financial crisis.

[38] In January 2011, Goolsbee expressed the administration's confidence that the U.S. debt limit would be raised, noting that rhetoric from some members of Congress, who suggested the routine increase should be opposed, "[appear] to reflect a deep misunderstanding of the consequences of default".

[45] In the 2020 general election, he co-chaired the Economic Advisory Council for Joe Biden's presidential campaign.

She was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company at the time and earlier the director of business development at MTV International.