September 23, 2011
In an article on the recent instability in financial markets and the weak world economy, the NYT turned to “a senior World Bank official” for extensive comments about the world economy. The official’s comments included no inside information, nor were they qualitatively different from the views expressed by many other economists who would have no problem being on the record.
Many economists have extremely bad track records in assessing the state of the economy, including many officials at the World Bank. For this reason it would be helpful for readers to know the names of the economists whose views are being presented so they know the credibility that should be attached to them.
Comments