June 19, 2009
The country is experiencing the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. The economics profession bears part of the blame – almost the entire profession was unable to see an $8 trillion housing bubble. Even as the unraveling of the bubble began to throw the economy into recession, economists were slow to recognize the need for a strong response from the government to boost the economy.
This failure of the economics profession allowed the first stimulus, passed during the Bush administration in February of 2008, to consist of a relatively modest tax cut that provided limited benefit to the economy. Congress passed a considerably larger stimulus in February of 2009, but one that is still far too small to address the severity of the downturn.
Congress will be more likely to move on a third stimulus when economists recognize and speak out about the inadequacy of the second stimulus. In an effort to promote forward thinking by economists, and challenge those who have not yet faced up to the severity of the current recession to examine economic developments more closely, CEPR is keeping an honor roll of economists calling for a third stimulus.
Below are two lists of economists – the first includes those economists who publicly and explicitly stated that the second stimulus, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, was too small. The second list shows those economists who have called for a third round of stimulus to boost the economy.
Second Stimulus Too Small
| Economist | Title | Date | Reference |
| Brad DeLong | UC Berkeley- Professor | 02/14/09 | Blog Post |
| John Schmitt | CEPR- Senior Economist | 02/15/09 | Op-Ed |
| Dean Baker | CEPR- Co-Director | 02/16/09 | Op-Ed |
| James K. Galbraith | UT Austin- Professor | 02/16/09 | Op-Ed |
| Paul Krugman | Nobel Laureate, NYT, Princeton-Professor | 02/17/09 | CNBC |
| Heather Boushey | CAP- Senior Economist | 02/18/09 | CNS News |
| Joseph Stiglitz | Nobel Laureate, Columbia University- Professor | 02/19/09 | Columbia University |
| Eileen Appelbaum | Rutgers- New Brunswick | 02/22/09 | The Tavis Smiley Show |
| Michael Meeropol | Professor Emeritus of Economics at Western New England College | 02/22/09 | Radio Commentary |
| Mark Weisbrot | CEPR- Co- Director | 02/25/09 | Op-Ed |
| Nouriel Roubini | RGE Monitor- Chairman, NYU- Professor | 03/05/09 | Op-Ed |
| Robert Solow | Nobel Laureate, MIT | 03/12/09 | BusinessWeek |
| Mark Thoma | University of Oregon- Economist | 03/16/09 | Op-Ed |
Need a Third Stimulus
| Economist | TItle | Date | Reference |
| Heather Boushey | CAP- Senior Economist | 02/18/09 | CNS News |
| James K. Galbraith | UT Austin- Professor | 02/25/09 | MarketWatch |
| Martin Feldstein | Harvard University- Professor | 03/03/09 | Op-Ed |
| Paul Krugman | Nobel Laureate, NYT, Princeton, | 03/11/09 | CNBC |
| Mark Thoma | University of Oregon- Economist | 03/16/09 | Op-Ed |
| Dean Baker | CEPR- Co-Director | 03/17/09 | CEPR Paper |
| Heidi Shierholz | EPI- Economist | 04/03/09 | EPI Jobs Picture |
| Robert Solow | Nobel Laureate, MIT | 04/06/09 | Gainesville Sun (FL) |
| Mark Weisbrot | CEPR, Co- Director | 04/14/09 | Op-Ed |
| Robert Shiller | Yale University- Professor | 04/15/09 | Op-Ed |
| Gerald Friedman | UMass- Amherst- Professor | 05/01/09 | Dollars&Sense |
| Lawrence Mishel | EPI- President | 05/21/09 | EPI |
| Mark Price | KRC- Economist | 05/31/09 | Blog Post |
| John Schmitt | CEPR- Senior Economist | 06/08/09 | The Hill |
| Paul Samuelson | Nobel Laureate | 06/18/09 | The Atlantic |
| Stephanie Kelton | University of Missouri- Kansas City- Professor | 06/29/09 | Blog Post |
| Stephen Levy | CCSE- Senior Economist | 07/01/09 | New America Media |
| Pavlina R. Tcherneva | Franklin and Marshall College- Professor | 07/02/09 | Blog Post |
| Thea Lee | AFL-CIO- Economist | 07/06/09 | The Hill |
| Laura Tyson | Economis Advisor to the President, UC Berkeley- Professor | 07/07/09 | Bloomberg |
| Andrew Samwick | Dartmouth College- Professor | 07/07/09 | Blog Post |
| L. Randall Wray | University of Missouri- Kansas City- Professor | 07/07/09 | Blog Post |
| Olivier Blanchard | IMF- Chief Economist | 07/09/09 | Financial Times |
| Justin Wolfers | U Penn- Professor | 07/09/09 | Marketplace |
| Nick Perna | Perna Associates- Cheif Economist | 07/10/09 | WSJ |
| Robert Reischauer | Urban Institute- President | 7/11/09 | |
| Nouriel Roubini | RGE Monitor- Chairman, NYU- Professor | 7/20/2009 | CNBC |
| Mark Zandi | Chief Economist, Moody’s Economy.com | 11/2/2009 | New York Times |
We encourage people to add to or correct this list in the comment section below, ideally with the following information: name of the economist, date they first stated that the second stimulus was too small or called for a third stimulus, and appropriate reference.
