23 Nobel Prize-winning Economists Back Harris’ Economic Proposals

Source: Axios, April Rubin
Photo: Vice President Kamala Harris fields questions during a town hall style campaign event with former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) on Oct. 21 in Brookfield, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Twenty-three Nobel prize-winning economists are backing the economic policies of Vice President Kamala Harris in a letter released Wednesday, warning that former President Trump’s economic policies would increase national debt and lead to higher prices.

Why it matters: With the economy a top priority for voters in the 2024 election, the signees backing Harris’ policies are a boost for the Democratic nominee with less than two weeks until Election Day.

The signees represent more than half of the living U.S. recipients of the Nobel Prize for economics, per CNN, who first obtained the letter.

What they’re saying: “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 letter said.

Trump’s proposals, which include high tariffs on imported goods and tax cuts, will generate greater inequality among Americans, along with higher prices and a larger deficit, they wrote.

“Among the most important determinants of economic success are the rule of law and economic and political certainty, and Trump threatens all of these,” they added.

The other side: Harris’ policies “strengthen the middle class, enhance competition and promote entrepreneurship,” they wrote.

“Harris’s economic agenda will do far more than Donald Trump’s to increase the economic strength and well-being of our nation and its people,” they wrote.

State of play: The letter was spearheaded by 2001 winner Joseph Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia University.

Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson, two of the three scholars who Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences Award last week, also signed Wednesday’s letter.

In June, when President Biden was still in the race, Stiglitz led a group letter signed by 16 Nobel prize-winning economists who warned that Trump’s plans would reignite inflation and cause lasting harm to the global economy.

https://www.axios.com/2024/10/23/harris-trump-nobel-prize-economists