Arthur Charles Brooks (born May 21, 1964) is an American author, academic, and public policy expert known for his work on happiness, economics, and conservative policy analysis. He began his professional life as a classical French horn player, leaving college at age 19 to tour and record in the United States and Spain. In his late twenties, while still performing, he returned to education through distance learning, eventually earning advanced degrees in economics and policy analysis. Brooks transitioned into academia in 1998 as an assistant professor of public administration and economics at Georgia State University. From 2001 to 2008, he taught at Syracuse University, where he became a full professor in 2006 and held the Louis A. Bantle Professorship in Business and Government. In 2009, Brooks was appointed president of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a prominent conservative think tank in Washington, DC, a position he held until 2021. During his tenure, he expanded AEI's influence on public policy debates, particularly in areas like social welfare, free enterprise, and international affairs. In July 2019, he joined the faculty of Harvard Kennedy School as the Parker Gilbert Montgomery Professor of the Practice of Public and Nonprofit Leadership, where he teaches the science of happiness and leads the Leadership and Happiness Laboratory. Brooks is a bestselling author of books such as 'Love Your Enemies' and 'The Conservative Heart,' and he contributes columns to outlets like The Atlantic, focusing on personal well-being and societal issues. Throughout his career, Brooks has been recognized for bridging academic research with practical policy and personal development. He holds a PhD and MPhil in policy analysis from the Pardee RAND Graduate School, an MA in economics from Florida Atlantic University, and a BA in economics from Thomas Edison State College. His work often emphasizes empirical approaches to understanding human flourishing, drawing from his diverse background in music, economics, and public policy.