Should-Read: Justin Wolfers: @justinwolfers on Twitter

Should-Read: I’m really not surprised that the only economist out of 42 willing to believe this is from Robber-Baron Crony-Capitalism Stanford University. But I am embarrassed for my profession that there is even one:

Justin Wolfers: @justinwolfers on Twitter: “The University of Chicago surveyed 42 leading economists and found exactly one who believes the Republican claim that their tax bill will grow the economy. http://www.igmchicago.org/surveys/tax-reform-2”

His comment doesn’t suggest he spent much time thinking about it:

A reduced corporate tax reduction is likely to grow GDP. Whether the overall tax plan is distributionally fair is another matter.

So does Darrell Duffie not believe in the government budget constraint? The right one-sentence is not Duffie’s but rather: “An unfunded tax cut that increases the deficit in an economy near full employment is likely to slow the growth of GDP”.

I would be interested in a further explanation from him: Why is it that we should think that the substitution effect should dominate the income effect here, and that consumption plus net exports is likely to fall rather than rise? But I don’t suppose I am likely to get a coherent one.