Economics, Ideology And Extraordinary Powers

TW: Liberal and conservative economists have literally been pissing on one another about whether a spending stimulus or tax cuts are more effective in addressing the current economic downturn (or cliff dive). The partisan slant of the economics profession while not surprising is disheartening relative to a profession that should have some theoretical truths upon which a consensus could be created.

I would suspect the average citizen is either confused or unswayed by the arguments, probably more of the former than the latter. If true they will either revert to their original biases or punt to our POTUS. My suspicion is that Obama will be given wide sway on this.

It is times like these when having a good POTUS is unusually helpful. I see the current economic situation as somewhat akin to post 9/11 with Bush and national security. Power pools around the POTUS during times of crisis. FDR, Washington and Lincoln when presented with extraordinary power acted with extraordinary judgment. Bush wilted into a miasma of torture, overextended military actions and paranoia.

Time will tell how well Obama carries the burden.

From Krugman at NYT:
"[many are] perturbed by the state of debate over fiscal stimulus. So am I. This has not been one of the profession’s finest hours.

There are certainly legitimate arguments against spending-based fiscal stimulus. You can worry about the burden of debt; you can argue that the government will spend money so badly that the jobs created are not worth having; and I’m sure there are other arguments worth taking seriously.

What’s been disturbing, however, is the parade of first-rate economists making totally non-serious arguments against fiscal expansion. You’ve got John Taylor arguing for permanent tax cuts as a response to temporary shocks, apparently oblivious to the logical problems. You’ve got John Cochrane going all Andrew-Mellon-liquidationist on us. You’ve got Eugene Fama reinventing the long-discredited Treasury View. You’ve got Gary Becker apparently unaware that monetary policy has hit the zero lower bound. And you’ve got Greg Mankiw — well, I don’t know what Greg actually believes, he just seems to be approvingly linking to anyone opposed to stimulus, regardless of the quality of their argument.

Needless to say, everyone I’ve mentioned is politically conservative. That’s their right: economists are citizens too. But it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that all of them have decided on political grounds that they don’t want a spending-based fiscal stimulus — and that these political considerations have led them to drop their usual quality-control standards when it comes to economic analysis.

Has there been any comparable outbreak of mass bad economics from good liberal economists? I can’t think of one, although maybe that’s my own politics showing. In any case, what’s happening now is pretty disturbing."
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/19/economists-ideology-and-stimulus/