As a law professor who lives and works in DC, and frequently interacts with folks in various parts of the federal government, I should probably know the bureaucratic structure and process for executive-branch policy making than I do. But I’ve never actually worked in the federal government, and I found this discussion by Keith Hennessey (H/T Greg Mankiw) to be a helpful primer. It walks through the basics of how questions go to one policy council or another within the White House structure, and then talks specifically about the process for formulating economic policy in the White House.