More than half of the living United States recipients of the Nobel Prize for economics signed a letter that called Vice President Kamala Harris’ economic agenda “vastly superior” to the plans laid out by former President Donald Trump.
Twenty-three Nobel Prize-winning economists signed onto the letter, including two of the three most recent recipients.
“While each of us has different views on the particulars of various economic policies, we believe that, overall, Harris’ economic agenda will improve our nation’s health, investment, sustainability, resilience, employment opportunities, and fairness and be vastly superior to the counterproductive economic agenda of Donald Trump,” the economists write in the letter obtained by CNN.
The letter serves as a stamp of approval for Harris less than two weeks from Election Day on the issue voters consistently rank as the most important in surveys: the economy. Voter struggles with inflation and an overall dour view of the state of the US economy have long served as a clear vulnerability for the Democratic candidate in the race, with incumbent President Joe Biden struggling for months to highlight his administration’s economic policy before he stepped aside and Harris coalesced party support to become the party nominee.
The letter was spearheaded by Joseph Stiglitz, a Columbia University professor and 2001 winner of the prize, and marks the second major foray into the campaign by a group of Nobel laureates.
Stiglitz also led an effort in June, with 15 fellow Nobel winners, to highlight what the signatories said would be a “destabilizing effect” of a second Trump term on the US economy. The group said at the time that then-candidate Biden’s economic agenda was also “vastly superior.”
Trump dismissed the group’s letter at the time, and his campaign slammed those who signed on as “worthless out of touch” economists.
But the new letter, which began to come together after Harris detailed her economic vision late last month, includes seven new signatories and represents a wide cross-section in the field in terms of areas of expertise and approach to economics.
The expanded group includes two of the three most recent laureates – Simon Johnson and Daron Acemoglu of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They received the prize, along with James Robinson of the University of Chicago, last week for their research into how institutions shape which countries become wealthy and prosperous.
The letter is intentionally brief at just 228 words, which reflects both an effort to secure consensus across a broader spectrum of economists and a desire to elevate that consensus with precision, according to a person familiar with the process. The letter was drafted to incorporate feedback from the initial effort.
It also marked an effort in the final days of the campaign to elevate what those involved viewed as an acute risk posed by Trump both in his economic proposals, but also, in their view, of the potential instability he would pose in an area where certainty and stability are paramount.
The letter points to Trump’s tariff and tax policies as inflationary and likely to balloon the federal deficit – a widely held view among economists. But it also issues a stark warning.
“Among the most important determinants of economic success are the rule of law and economic and political certainty, and Trump threatens all of these,” the economists write.
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Despite the warnings and forecasts from economists across the political spectrum, Trump has been steadfast in his pledge to wield threats of sweeping tariffs as a cornerstone of his economic agenda.
Trump, in a recent Bloomberg interview at the Economic Club of Chicago, said his tariff plans would “have a massive effect, a positive effect.”
“The most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff,” Trump said. “It’s my favorite word.”
Trump has promised broad tax cuts beyond his 2017 tax law and promised to abolish taxes on tips, overtime and social security benefits, which analysts say would cost trillions, all as he pointed to tariffs and economic growth as the way to pay for the loss in revenue.
Economists view tariffs as effectively a tax on consumers who buy imported goods.
He has pledged large-scale de-regulation and, as part of the effort, unleash a surge in oil and gas drilling. He has also pledged to deport all illegal immigrants in the US in the “largest deportation operation” in the country’s history.
Trump has long held an edge when it comes to which candidate voters believe would best handle the economy as voters grapple with widespread discontent over the state and direction of the US economy.
Trump and his allies have sought to press that advantage in campaign events and in their advertising with a specific focus on the high prices that have weighed down American consumers for much of the last few years.
But Harris has steadily chipped away at Trump’s advantage on the issue in recent weeks, according to polling, and Harris campaign advisers see an opening to cut into Trump’s strength on the issue in the closing days of the campaign.
Those efforts have been bolstered by a steady stream of economic data that has boosted the confidence among US economic policy makers that they have successfully tamed inflation without pushing the broader economy into a recession.
The Federal Reserve has started cutting interest rates. Employment data for September showed hiring picked up, a dropping unemployment rate and strong wage growth.
Retails sales also remain durable.
The economic picture, at least based on the macroeconomic data, is one that appears robust.
Harris, as part of her economic agenda, has moved to address voter concerns about prices, the cost of housing, the cost of child and elder care and pushed for tax cuts targeting middle-and lower-income Americans.
She has also signaled support for the industrial policies championed by Biden designed to bolster US manufacturing for critical industries.
The contrast between the two candidates on the economy is central to the messages both campaigns are pushing in the final days of the race.
For the signatories of the letter, Harris’ message is the clear preference.
“Simply put, Harris’s policies will result in a stronger economic performance, with economic growth that is more robust, more sustainable, and more equitable,” the economists write.
CNN
