The Economists Self-Censored and Inflation Is a Result
The answer to these questions is disheartening. Many in the economics profession did see that government policies of the last couple of years would result in high inflation. But most who saw it coming chose not to inform the public or raise the alarm until it was too late.
Jason Furman, former chairman of President Obama s council of economic advisors and current Harvard professor, commented recently that most academic economists have been skeptical (mostly silently) of the stimulus packages. The high inflation we see today is partly the price of the economics profession s self-censorship.
The economics profession s determined silence on inflation is on display in regular surveys of top U.S. economists conducted by the Initiative on Global Markets of the University of Chicago School of Business. The initiative and surveys aim to help policymakers make informed decisions on ongoing policy debates.
None of the 35 surveys from January 2020 to May 2021 included questions about the potential inflationary impacts of COVID restrictions and relief packages. Neither did the respondents bring up this concern in their free-form answers to the many survey questions about COVID policy during this time.
Economists self censoring about inflation. Doctors self censoring about gender and Covid. Professors self censoring about wokeness. Who needs that stupid old freedom of speech?