Pandering to economists
It’s too bad the presidential candidates don’t pander to economists, said N. Gregory Mankiw in The New York Times. If they did, they would be touting free trade, bashing farm subsidies, standing up for oil speculators, hiking gasoline taxes, and raising the retirement age. They also might try inviting more skilled immigrants into the country, liberalizing drug policy in the interest of personal freedom, and, for good measure, they could throw in some money for economic research. Those policies won’t buy the candidates many votes with other special interest groups, but it will certainly rally economists behind them.
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