www.nytimes.com/2003/03/16/business/yourmoney/16VIEW.html March 16, 2003 Grading Bush on Prosperity and Pain By DANIEL ALTMAN
An informal survey of economists, which I conducted last week by e-mail, asked, "To what degree is the Bush administration responsible (in the sense of bearing credit or blame) for the current state of the economy?"
Answers were sought from 20 well-known Wall Street economists from different companies and 125 academics specializing in macroeconomics. The academic group included R. Glenn Hubbard, the chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, and his nominated successor, N. Gregory Mankiw of Harvard. Neither responded. Among those who did was Martin S. Feldstein, a Harvard professor who held the post in the early 1980's.
The economists were encouraged to pick from a five-point scale, ranging from "not at all" to "completely," and to offer additional comments. The academics, of whom 57 responded, averaged 2.3 — between "a little bit" and "a fair amount." The average from the 11 Wall Street economists who wrote back was lower, at 1.9.
Interesting to see the inflation. Only half responded. What to make of it? Geert