Washington Post's Neil Irwin Joins The New York Times

Neil Irwin, a Washington Post columnist and economics editor of the paper's Wonkblog, is leaving for the New York Times, according to a memo obtained by The Huffington Post.

Irwin joins The Times as an economics writer and will work on a new digital venture being launched by David Leonhardt, a newsroom start-up that's been viewed as the paper's answer to Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight.

The departure of Irwin comes amid speculation that Wonkblog editor Ezra Klein may leave the paper to launch his own media entity.

The Post memo is below:

We regret to announce that Neil Irwin is leaving us to join The New York Times as an economics writer working with David Leonhardt on his new digital venture. Neil started at the Post in 2000 as an intern (he was approximately 12 years old) and his career has been on an upward trajectory ever since. From local business writer (and Steve Pearlstein protege) to master of the Federal Reserve beat, Neil grew quickly into those Brooks Brothers suits and established himself as a must-read on matters of monetary policy and economics. He ducked out to pick up an MBA from Columbia and then again to toss off a book on central bankers, then came back to apply high-level market theory to our fantasy football league, with strangely tepid results. In the past year Neil has played a new role with Wonkblog, helping to guide the coverage and writing regular, insightful posts on the economy. We'll miss his sophisticated analysis, thoughtful counsel and friendship in equal measures, but it's impossible not to wish Neil the best in his new role.

Greg David