Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump on Wednesday honored economist Arthur Laffer, a former adviser to Ronald Reagan who is known as the father of supply side economics, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

"Few people in history have revolutionized economic thought and policy like Dr. Art Laffer. He developed a brilliant theory, shaped unprecedented economic reforms and helped turn a severe recession into a remarkable boom," Trump said during an Oval Office ceremony to award Laffer with the nation's highest civilian honor

The President also claimed that Laffer's work "spurred economic reforms around the world and helped lift untold millions out of poverty," though other factors contributed to tax cutting and deregulation around the globe at that time.

Accepting the medal, Laffer -- who was also the first chief economist of the Office of Management and was a consultant to the Treasury and Defense departments -- thanked his family and many of his "teammates," which include several Trump administration economic advisers and Cabinet members, as well as former Vice President Dick Cheney and economist Milton Friedman.

Laffer's work gained popularity under Reagan, when the administration argued that the effect of lower tax rates "trickle down" to the rest of the economy, spurring economic growth and increasing government revenue. It's a concept adopted by the economic advisers of the Trump administration, which has included Laffer's associates, Larry Kudlow and Stephen Moore.