I have to admit that I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the dismal science.  It is probably an extension of the engineer in me.  There’s just something about numbers, graphs, and cold logic…

Anyway, Harvard economist Gregory Mankiw authored a fine column in today’s New York Times about what politicians would say in the unlikely event they pandered to economists.  He figured there were eight items that most economists could agree on that would make a solid platform:

1. SUPPORT FREE TRADE
2. OPPOSE FARM SUBSIDIES
3. LEAVE OIL COMPANIES AND SPECULATORS ALONE
4. TAX THE USE OF ENERGY
5. RAISE THE RETIREMENT AGE
6. INVITE MORE SKILLED IMMIGRANTS
7. LIBERALIZE DRUG POLICY
8. RAISE FUNDS FOR ECONOMIC RESEARCH

Ok, so that last one is a bit of a standard request from any interest group, but other than that I agree with all of those propositions (with a caveat on the energy tax).

• Be Careful What You Ask For
• Cost of biofuels could reach $205 billion
• The Refund Myth
• Zimbabwe Inflation Over 1000%
• Alabama Representatives Flip Flop on Free Trade

This entry was posted by Brian on Sunday, July 13th, 2008 at 8:30 pm and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Please note the copyright policy.