Friedman, an economist from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, analyzed Sanders’ proposals and found large, positive economic effects from increased government spending, such as a real GDP-growth rate of 5.3%, which is higher than the U.S. economy has ever sustained. To some, Friedman’s results seem implausible. However, his GDP growth rate is the result of standard modeling techniques and the size a consequence of the scale and scope of Sanders’ ambitions.
In response, four former chairs of the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) under Presidents Obama and Clinton called on Sanders to distance himself from Friedman’s proposals on the basis of their apparent implausibility. Rather than disputing Friedman’s methods, they claimed the exorbitant results risk damaging the Democrats’ reputation as the “party of evidence-based economic policy.” The former CEA economists equated Friedman’s conclusions regarding the growth rate with the “grandiose predictions” made by outside experts supporting Republican’s economic proposals, including those using a supply-side, tax-cut model to support the growth potential of tax cuts.
In a series of blog posts, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman supported the position of the former CEA chairs, questioning both Friedman’s and Sander’s motives. In turn, the CEA letter and Krugman’s columns generated a backlash of their own. Jamie Galbraith responded with an open letter. Friedman himself wrote directly to Krugman and Mother Jones’ Kevin Drum summarized the controversy.
New School economists and scholars are dedicated to scrutiny and debate and believe this process should apply to Friedman’s results just as it should apply to any economist’s results. In this case, the quick jump to questioning political motives appears to have skipped over this exercise in rigor that is the hallmark of economists’ professional ethos. In that spirit, we invited Friedman to speak at The New School Department of Economics seminar series on May 3, 2016, to present a lecture, “What would Sanders Do? Or, How a Naive College Professor Stumbled into a Professional and Media Buzzsaw."
