NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - White House economic advisor Glenn Hubbard said he will resign Friday, becoming the latest person to leave President's Bush economic team.

Hubbard, the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, made the announcement late Wednesday. He will be replaced by N. Gregory Mankiw, the White House said.

"I am writing to inform you that I shall resign my position as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, effective February 28, 2003," Hubbard said in a letter to Bush. "This decision is a difficult one."

A separate statement issued by the White House said Bush intended to nominate Mankiw to take over as chairman of the council in place of Hubbard, who had served as chairman since May 2001.

Mankiw is a Harvard University economics professor who is also an advisor to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the Congressional Budget Office.

Hubbard's departure comes as the White House tries to sell a $695 billion tax cut package that Bush argues will stimulate the sluggish economy and promote job creation.

But Democrats say the plan will widen the deficit and drive up interest rates. Bush wants to end the tax that investors pay on dividends. Critics call that a giveaway to the wealthy.

Hubbard said he wanted to spend more time with his family.

"This decision is a difficult one, as serving you in the campaign and in this post has been the greatest honor and privilege of my professional life, but family needs are my most significant concern."

While Hubbard was based in Washington, his wife and young children remained in New York, where he returned on weekends.

Hubbard, who has served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers since May 2001, has told colleagues he is likely to return to Columbia University, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1988.

Mankiw, 45, has been a professor of economics at Harvard University since July 1987. He served as a staff economist for the Council of Economic Advisors in the first administration of President Ronald Reagan from 1982 to 1983.

Some of Mankiw's recent research has dealt with Social Security, inflation targeting for central banks and the effects of budget deficits. He co-wrote a 1998 paper, entitled "The Deficit Gamble," that argued government budget gaps do not put as much pressure on interest rates as many economists believe.

Mankiw lives in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with his wife and three children.

Three Bush economic appointees have resigned in recent months. Former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt announced his intentions to leave late on Election Day.

William Donaldson, who co-founded the investment bank Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette was sworn in as Pitt's replacement this month.

New Treasury Secretary John Snow, who ran railroad freight firm CSX Corp., was picked by Bush in early December to replace Paul O'Neill, who was fired in a shake-up of the administration's economic team.

And Wall Street veteran Stephen Friedman was named in December as Bush's choice to replace Larry Lindsey as the administration's economic adviser.  

-- Reuters contributed to this report