This may need to get moved to GD, but I have a factual question.
Does anyone have a ready list of economists that support the need for an economic stimulus plan. I’m in the middle of a work project and googling casually has a lot of chaff so I don’t have the time for a detailed investigation until the end of the day.
If someone has any resources or links I’d appreciate them.
I am not an economist, but I am married to one.
Economists as a general class aren’t particularly amenable to getting themselves put on lists. It’s sort of like asking for a list of computer programmers who prefer/don’t prefer java.
Having said that, I’m under the impression that most all professional economists believe in the need for some sort of economic stimulus program. Getting them to agree on a particular stimulus plan, however, is a problem similar to that of herding cats.
Yeah, I was suspecting something along those lines. Trouble is I have a friend who needs to see a list of pro-stimulus economists before he’ll believe that the Cato institute advertisement isn’t proof.
When I finish working I’ll do some digging to see how many I can see on record as being pro stimulus.
Although, if anyone else has a similar list, please feel free to post. 
Ahh, the infamous Cato ad. Proof that either the libertarian movement is about to take back control over the government or that it can afford a full page ad. I forget which 
Seriously, if you’re just going for a body count, here’sa letter I found online (generated by the Center for Exonomic and Policy Research) supposedly signed by 387 economists supporting a stimulus plan. Tag, you’re it! the Cato folks are now down 2 to 1.
(And seriously, this sort of body-counting really doesn’t mean anything. There are far more than 600 professional economists out there.)
Economic, not Exonomic! AARRGGHH!!!
You sir are the bomb. Fuck, you’re the entire arsenal.
Thanks, I had already started on my research and with more than half an hour in didn’t find this.
I really have to learn to let things go.
According to their web site, the National Association of Business Economistshas approximately 2,500 members. Not all professional economists are NABE members, but that should give you some sort of lower estimate on the number of economists out there.
I do not believe that NABE as an organization has an official opinion one way or another about stimulus packages. At least not one that I as a non-member can access on their web site.
You should distinguish between macroeconomists and others, though. Being a trade economist like Krugman, or an economic historian, does not give you the same kind of expertise that a macroeconomist would have in evaluating the stimulus.
In addition, it’s not really a refutation of the other side to show that most economists are for ‘a stimulus’. That’s really a straw man, because even the Republicans agree that there should be a stimulus package. The question is whether or not the current bill should be supported.
If a bill had been presented that met Larry Summers’ prescription of “Timely, Targeted, and Temporary”, you would have seen 80% support for it, or more. If the Obama adminsitration had accepted the recommendation that Clinton OMB Director Alice Rivlin made, and split the bill into two halves, it would have gotten a lot of support. The current bill is almost the opposite of those three goals. It’s not timely, it’s splashed all across the economy, and it creates new permanent entitlements and permanently larger government departments.
Oh I know that. I know how to argue, but this guy is one of those people that are immune to facts. He forms opinions and sticks to them regardless of evidence. He refuses to believe that, in his words, “Any non-Marxist economists want a stimulus package.” So I was going to provide a list for him.
Seriously, he’s pretty much a lost cause. He’s worse than many of the echo-chamber around here.
One could indeed argue that the above should be the question - but it wasn’t the argument that the Cato ad in question was making. That ad stated simply “we the undersigned do not believe that more government spending is a way to improve economic performance”, and did not reference any items particular to the current stimulus package at all. The Cato group is a libertarian organization and believes that government intervention in general is a bad idea.
That’s why I merely looked for something signed by economists that supported the other side of that of the Cato group.
BTW, my wife strongly believes that a stimulus package is necessary, but (like you) has a lot of issues with the current stimulus package that has just been passed.
Not the same level of expertise, certainly - but I think you’re splitting hairs here. My wife is a macroeconomist but I don’t think she’d make that statement. (And, of course, it’s a distinction made neither by the Cato group nor the other group whose letter I managed to locate.)