November 2, 2026

"As a lifelong economist, I am distraught at what is happening to my profession. What I observe is economists losing status."

"Economists used to be highly respected figures, and nowadays, even when they are not pilloried, they are often simply ignored. There is an ongoing bipartisan flight from economic reasoning. And as voters go to the polls this week, neither Republicans nor Democrats are offering anything like a rigorous plan for economic growth...."

Writes Tyler Cowen, in "No Matter Who Wins the Midterms, Economics Will Lose/Both parties used to craft their policies with the help of the best economic minds. Now they are driven almost entirely by politics and vibes" (Free Press).

70 comments:

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Poor baby. Giving up on the Scientific Method was a poor choice for a “science” but embracing stupid Keynseian nonsense was even stupider.

rehajm said...

Yup.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Any economist with big enough balls to say “the US government doesn’t have a revenue problem, they have a spending problem” can earn respect among Americans but will be pilloried by the ascientific drooling “journalists” who report on economics, like Tyler.

rehajm said...

…so our congressional leadership abandons Smith and Hayek and Friedman and Sowell and instead adopt the kindergarten model of economics where money grows on trees and everyone who shows up gets an equal sized piece of cake regardless of contribution…

baghdadbob said...

Nonsense. Trump's economic plan includes lower taxes and regulations, remedying trade imbalances by negotiating (and/or tariffing) most favored nation pricing and equitable deals, reducing government's size, waste and fraud, bringing manufacturing back to the USA, insuring strong domestic production of energy and critical materials, among other measures. This is likely a media attempt to portray this administration as clueless and without a coherent plan.

rehajm said...

...Bessent is the best policy maker government has had in a couple generations…

rehajm said...

…just about all the rest of them attended the Liz Warren MBA program…

Saint Croix said...

Instead of “Cry For Me, Argentina,” we can sing, “Cry For Me, Elite Education.”

You’d think elite Ivy Leaguers might have some idea, some clue why their elite status is roundly mocked and ignored. One party states produce horrible science, horrible art, horrible economics, horrible laws. That is because your one party state is so politicized.

rehajm said...

…truth baghdadbob. Democrats spend years developing a big bloated tax and spend program for everything then the chastise Republicans for not having and big bloated tax and spend program for everything…

Jersey Fled said...

Key takeaway:

“Economists used to be highly respected figures, and nowadays, even when they are not pilloried, they are often simply ignored. There is an ongoing bipartisan flight from economic reasoning.”

I taught economics at the university level for eight years after I retired from my real job.

The first night of each class I told my students that we were there to teach, discuss, and learn Economics. And what they heard from politicians and the news wasn’t economics.

rhhardin said...

A profession doesn't recover from Paul Krugman.

rehajm said...

Principles of Economics, available thru the Amazon portal. Makes a great Christmas gift for your representatives….

rehajm said...

…funny that, Krugman’s contributions were valuable, unfortunately he’s also a partisan hack willing to shit on his colleagues and profession for the perceived advancement of his politics…

Kai Akker said...

Who needs economists when the Fed will print money every whipstitch?

Sebastian said...

"Both parties used to craft their policies with the help of the best economic minds." Did they really? Hmm. Anyway, the indictment seems too broad--several Trump policies accord with Econ 101. Basic problem is spending. Economists would regain stature if they hammered that point. But as partisans, they won't.

rehajm said...

…and we all mock Krugman but on the xy graph of fancy degrees/stupid ideas Larry Summers is the extreme top right outlier…

rehajm said...

…and we all mock Krugman but on the xy graph of fancy degrees/stupid ideas Larry Summers is the extreme top right outlier…

RCOCEAN II said...

Cowan is in favor of "Free Trade" and "Open Borders" no matter what. Because somehow no matter what happens or bad the ramifications, its supposed to be good for the GDP in the "long run".

So now he's sad, because no buys that bullshit anymore.

Lazarus said...

He's only realizing that now? The "paradigm" paradigm works pretty well in economics. Economists follow the prevailing "paradigm" until it doesn't work and then they look like fools. That happened in the 1930s and again in the 1970s. It's happened since though I couldn't say when. The country is actually doing well now economically, inflation aside, but the long years in which we let industry decay and leave made us distrust economists and their predictions.

Bob Boyd said...

To be fair to Cowen, he is a species of libertarian and is associated with the Austrian School.
That doesn't necessarily mean he shouldn't be pilloried or ignored.

Peachy+2 said...

We inherited the largest hot mess of economic nightmare and ILLEGAL open border grift - from Joe Mob Biden.

RCOCEAN II said...

The other point is that just because someone has an Econ PHD, doesn't mean (1) they economic advice isn't based on their personal politics or (2) they know what they are talking about.

The Economists who have MSM Columns are almost universally partisan liberal/leftist who've been proven wrong time and time again. So, nobody cares what the X-burts say.

RCOCEAN II said...

I'm not interested in being "fair" to Cowan.

RideSpaceMountain said...

It doesn't help that most economists will explain tomorrow why the thing they predicted yesterday didnt happen today.

Money Manger said...

Sorry Tyler. Blame Krugman and Stiglitz, Acemoglu and Diamond. And then start in on Piketty.

When economists subordinate objective research standards to preferred political goals, expect complete loss of status.

RideSpaceMountain said...

Why so Straussian Tyler?

RideSpaceMountain said...

Guy should be more concerned with getting pilloried on his own site. He's been getting thrashed lately.

Bob Boyd said...

Cowen says, "Americans were used to deferring to elites, who had won World War II for them"
Okay, he should definitely be pilloried and then ignored.

CJinPA said...

I used to be a staunch fiscal conservative. Then I noticed that voters don't care. My candidates usually lost.

Also, when the debates are "Does our nation really deserve to enforce its border laws?" and "Should we abolish police departments?" it becomes a matter of national survival, and avoiding economic catastrophe gets kicked down the road.

Josephbleau said...

Economics is not controversial, it just depends on what objective function you are optimizing. Minimizing unemployment and maximizing growth within your Nation State, and letting all the other Nation States have their own priorities that you can react to in your interest is a great objective.

Aggie said...

The dots that haven't been connected yet are the effects from all of the entitlements fraud that are being quashed, payments being stopped, monies being recovered, fraud uncovered, money returned. I haven't seen this totaled up yet and represented as % of budget. I need to see this to understand whether it's a drop in the bucket or a substantial piece of pie. And then I would like to see a projection of the trend over the next few years, including growth in tax revenue because of economic growth.

What we have lost (my view) is a sense of reasonable forecast and backward-looking verification that forecasts were in line.

I think Scott Bessent is doing a fantastic job.

planetgeo said...

The most important lessons in economics aren't learned in university courses but at certain times in real life. One of the most important lessons was provided in 1929, and an even bigger and more important lesson will likely be provided around 2029 or not very long after.

Jersey Fled said...

Further to my post above, the two Presidents in my lifetime who ranked the best in terms of their understanding of economics were JFK and Ronald Reagan. Two different parties and two different times but each knew what to do and how to do it.

There is no close third.

CJinPA said...

rehajm said...
"Democrats spend years developing a big bloated tax and spend program for everything then the chastise Republicans for not having and big bloated tax and spend program for everything…"

And Republicans who wanted to *reduce the INCREASE in spending* were accused of "slashing programs" by Dems withe the cynical support of national media.

Trump said, "F that. Voters punish candidates who care about deficits so I won't."

RCOCEAN II said...

In the real world, what is the best economic policy is based on the a detailed analysis of the economic structure of the country and looking at the numbers. There's a lot of micro analysis.

Economists that appear in the Newspapers are almost all theory. They have grand theories based on macro analysis. And its usually worthless.

Josephbleau said...

One of the most important economic principles is in the incenti

Lazarus said...

"As a lifelong economist ..."? Calculating GDP even in diapers?

Haven't we been robustly growing for some time now? "Rigorous plans" don't survive the business cycle and harsh confrontations with reality. Moreover, by the time any administration or Congress can put a "rigorous plan" into effect it has been so stuffed with goodies for the special interests that the plan's original purpose has been forgotten. Remember Biden's "Inflation Reduction Act"?

Josephbleau said...

One of the most important economic principles is in the incentivization of capital investment to maintain jobs and growth by increasing productivity. This is the failure of socialism, which values any labor over effective labor.

Josephbleau said...

A peve of mine is politicians’ distortion of capitalism, socialism, and communism. These are economic systems. They are not systems of love, peace, justice, or equality. The moral is the moral, separate from economics. Economics is a tool for organizing production of human needs, not a playground for sociologists.

Peachy+2 said...

Democrats pretend to care about "affordability" - while they scream for more taxes.

Temujin said...

I think he's mostly right. It's all a mess. And the truth is in the numbers. National Debt Clock.

Saint Croix said...

Economics and math are a couple of fields that make my eyes roll up over my head. I am very impressed with Scott Bessant, though. I remember, a while back, Argentina ran into some trouble, and their free market president asked the USA for some help. I was like, "oh shit, what's going to happen?" And Bessant was like, "Sure, here you go, not a problem." And the damn problem in Argentina disappeared, and he's a genius down there again.

I was like, good one, even though it was all kind of over my head. I also liked how Bessant had lunch in a Cheesecake Factory, and he famously offered the lawyer and socialist Elizabeth Warren some economic lessons.

Not my field but I have a lot of confidence in our top money man. (He made his money the same way Soros did, and in fact worked for Soros).

Kai Akker said...

--- I have a lot of confidence in our top money man. (He made his money the same way Soros did, and in fact worked for Soros).

This gives you confidence in him?

bagoh20 said...

$40 trillion in debt does not recommend the past use of economists in government.

A politician needs a fiscal responsibility plan like a fish needs a bicycle.

Oso Negro said...

Lost me at “As a lifelong economist”. What, was he drawing Laffer Curves on the inside of his amniotic sac? But perhaps years of reading “As a lifelong Republican” informs the visceral reaction.

Big Mike said...

Across all of the Econ departments in all of the universities in the United States of America, how many teach a course in “Why socialism and communism have slways failed, and slways will”?

RideSpaceMountain said...

Those who can't economist, teach economics.

Rocco said...

rehajm said...
“…so our congressional leadership abandons Smith and Hayek and Friedman and Sowell…”

If you mentioned those names, I think most of our Congress critters would think of Will, Salma, Sam, and Penei first.

(And he’s Penei Sewell, not Sowell.)

Rocco said...

"What I observe is economists losing status."

“Experts are losing status,” experts say. Maybe Paul Krugman should write a column on it.

bagoh20 said...

Shouldn't all economists be filthy rich?

Howard said...

Economics hasn't been respected since forever.

"The dismal science" is a derogatory name for the science of economics, coined by Scottish essayist Thomas Carlyle in 1849.[1]

Bob Boyd said...

"Americans were used to deferring to elites, who had won World War II for them"

That sentence just says it all. What an ass.

RJ said...

As was already noted: Paul Krugman and other lunatic economists poisoned the well.

rehajm said...

…many of them are- immediately- Siegel, Merton, Scholes, Riccardo…Samuelson, Solow Keynes are/were…

rehajm said...

…there was that little group of Nobels that lent their names to that hedge fund that moved next door to the stock exchange servers on long island to front-run trades, they made out okay…

Greg The Class Traitor said...

"Economics" that says that tariffs for the US are bad, offshoring all production to our enemies is good, and importing foreign "workers" is good is garbage that isn't worth listening to.

So suck on it, Tyler. So long as you promote enriching corrupt thugs, over enriching all, or at least all those willing to work, Americans, you don't have anything worth listening to

Hombre said...

Democrats corrupt everything including economics. E.g., "Milton Friedman isn't running the show anymore." - QuidProJoe Biden.

rehajm said...

…it’s fun to make fun of economists but they like to make fun of you, too. See principle number 3…

RideSpaceMountain said...

"Shouldn't all economists be filthy rich?"

That's why they teach.

Patrick Henry was right! said...

Growth is 4.3%. So high the Fed is using it as a pretext to refuse to lower interest rates. TDS.

Ficta said...

Nobody likes "dismal".

Zavier Onasses said...

There IS "a rigorous plan for economic growth" readily to hand. It is the Free Market Economy; aka, absence of Centrally Controlled Economy. To the extent that professional "economists" view their profession as being Central Planners, they are bound to be disappointed.

Zavier Onasses said...

There is "a rigorous plan for economic growth" readily to hand - the Free Market economy - the absence of Central Control. To the extent that "economists" view their roll as being controllers of the economy, they are bound to be disappointed.

Saint Croix said...

Kai,

Actually, the opposite. I would never hire anybody who worked for Soros. I would assume they were a raging socialist.

My theory on this is Bessant is the genius who shorted the pound. Made billions for Soros. And felt guilty as shit when Soros spent so much money fucking our country up. So Bessant went to Trump and asked to make amends. And Trump gave him the opportunity.

Trump’s cabinet is the best of my lifetime.

bagoh20 said...

""Americans were used to deferring to elites, who had won World War II for them"

Wow!

William said...

My understanding of quantum physics is that nobody understands quantum physics. There's Newtonian physics and quantum physics. I think a great deal of economics has more in common with quantum physics than Newtonian physics, but economists lack the humility of quantum physicists.....Food is a basic human right. It is reprehensible that people grow and sell food for profit. We need the economies of scale that large scale collective farms offer and state run cooperatives to distribute the bountiful crops those collective farms raise......There was a point in time where you could find lots of economists to agree with that argument. I suppose a lot of them still do, but they're more circumspect about it.

Saint Croix said...

Bessant is a great economist who is not a teacher. So he is obscenely rich. The worst economists are poor, and teach their students to be angry and poor.

RideSpaceMountain said...

Tyler is a big believer in "elites". Therefore he should know how much he's contributed to "elite overproduction". After all, as an economist, who better to understand how much more he gets of what he incentivizes.

Saint Croix said...

The dumbest idea is Krugman’s $1 trillion coin. Just print more money! He thinks like a criminal.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

This guy, belittling vibes, gives me bad vibes.

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