Yayi Boni, an economist who used to run the West African Development Bank, has been elected president of the African country of Benin. He is at least the second economist to have recently become president of an African nation, joining Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia. To the best of my knowledge, there has never been a U.S. president who was also an economist. Hell, if Harvard can’t stomach an economist as president, it’s hard to imagine the U.S. could. But maybe the time is approaching. So tell me this, dear blog readers: if such a thing were possible, which American economist would you like to see as president?
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About Freakonomics
Stephen J. Dubner is an author and journalist who lives in New York City.
Steven D. Levitt is a professor of economics at the University of Chicago.
Their book Freakonomics has sold 3 million copies worldwide. This blog, begun in 2005, is meant to keep the conversation going. Recurring guest bloggers include Ian Ayres, Jessica Hagy, Daniel Hamermesh, Sudhir Venkatesh, and Justin Wolfers.
Annika Mengisen is the site editor.
Comment of the Moment
Naked Self-Promotion
Freakonomics is bolstering book sales at airports because it’s sexy, reports TheBookseller.com -- with or without its Turkish cover.
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
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Recent Posts
November 18
(14 comments)
Would a Market for Organs Punish the Poor More Than They Are Already Punished?
Below is a fascinating statement issued by Physicians for a National Health Program, “a membership organization of over 15,000 physicians [which] supports a single-payer national health insurance program.”
You should read the whole thing but, in a nutshell: The people who receive donated organs in the U.S. nearly always have health insurance, while a significant fraction [...]
November 18
(19 comments)
Larry Summers for Treasury Secretary
Larry Summers
There is a lot of speculation about whether President-elect Barack Obama will choose Larry Summers to be his Treasury Secretary. But some people are openly opposing Summers’s appointment, in part because of controversial comments he made about women in science.
It’s a close question, but I’m hoping that Obama appoints Summers. I have three reasons:
First, [...]
November 18
(6 comments)
Boston Legal Way Classier Than Beauty and the Geek?
Thanks to all the readers who wrote in last week with news that Freakonomics was mentioned on the TV show Boston Legal.
It happened at the end, when the William Shatner character and the James Spader character were having their ritual end-of-the-episode scotch, musing about law and the world.
Alan Shore (Spader): Well, it’s possible [...]
November 18
(20 comments)
Is France Due for Riots?
Photo: cicilief
In my last post, I offered several reasons why the urban riot has gone out of style in the U.S.
However, France will not be spared the sword. I predict that the world will watch French cities light up in youth unrest in 2009, 2010 at the latest … 2011 for sure.
I have been [...]
November 18
(100 comments)
A Beet Paradox
Photo: Darwin Bell
Beets are the new broccoli. Or at least they will be after Obama takes office on January 20, as the president-elect recently revealed his distaste for this vitamin-laden root vegetable. And Obama is not alone: Even as beet salads have become popular in trendy eateries, most American kids I know also reject the [...]
Stuff We Weren't Paid to Endorse
1. Go to Hulu.com. 2. Choose Arrested Development. 3. Start with Season 1 and then watch every episode of all three seasons. 4. You can thank me later. (SJD)
I can scarcely tell a scarlet tanager from Scarlett O’Hara, but The Life of the Skies had me transfixed from the first page. Jonathan Rosen -- who happens to be a friend of mine -- writes with astounding insight, wit, and compassion. The story he tells here is the best kind of odyssey, an outward journey that ends up highlighting the beauty and daring that live inside of us. Here's a Times review of the book, and here's an earlier blog post about the book and the power of suggestion. (SJD)
Even if you don’t have a son fighting in Iraq, even if you don’t read poetry, even if you think you are immune to the power of a mother’s lament – pick up The Warrior and read it right away. Fran Richey has written some of the most powerful stories I’ve ever encountered. It is obvious that her life was changed by living these poems; yours may well be changed by reading them. (SJD)
From the Opinion Blogs
Necessary Steps
Inching Along the Edge of the World
In his last walk of the series, the author manages to avoid stepping out into thin air.
Abstract City
New York Cheat Sheets
All New Yorkers develop tricks that allow them to stay ahead of the pack in daily life. Here I offer some of mine in a couple of handy charts.
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From 1 to 25 of 39 Comments
Becker for President!
I agree that any Economist would have trouble getting elected. Economist tend to talk too straight about issues, i.e., “We should spend less on your pork.” Few economist speak in short sentences.
I can’t think of many government programs that most economist think need more spending. That makes support difficult.
Becker/Posner ‘08
— Closet LibertarianIf you ask around I think that the majority of people would say Paul Krugman. But that wouldn’t be my choice.
— MVPYNot strictly an economist, but Robert Rubin would be great. Summers wouldn’t be bad.
— minderbenderPresidents are elected because they have one hand (never do they say “on the other hand”). If an economist is elected, he (she) won’t have campaigned as one.
— kramsauerJed Bartlett in ‘08
— will4900What about Donald Trump? Seriously though, whatever happened to the poster boy of ‘trickle-down’ theory, or as George Bush called it, ‘voodoo economics,’ David Stockman.
— metinCanada’s new Prime Minister has a masters degree in economics.
http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/pm.asp
— GMOWalter Block (http://www.walterblock.com) or Hans-Hermann Hoppe (http://www.hanshoppe.com)
— briandrakeDoesn’t everything beat a lawyer? Hence, Yes.
— sdstullWould never happen, at least not a real economist. Economic perspectives are interesting because they’re blunt — ignoring political context for sheer mathematical relationships. Economists have to say things that make people uncomfortable. That would never fly in the US.
That being said, I’d vote for an economist.
— indifferentjWell, technically Russian president Vladimir Putin has a PhD in economics. Not a very good one though (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2101607,00.html).
—
As for the question, I’d say Krugman.
— dubovThe link above should be this: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2101607,00.html
— dubovIndia’s prime minister, Manmohan Singh, is an Economics Ph.D from Oxford.
Not sure many economists are cut out to be president. Would people feel comforted to be told they’re out of a job because of an exogenous aggregate productivity shock?
— dratskeeYes our prime minister in Canada has a masters degree in economics. The question is would the electorate in the United States vote for an economist as president? I think that in the U.S. the executive branch of government has far more power in the areas of justic and foreign affairs than it does on domestic areas. Hence you see a war that costs billions and billions of dollars and lasts for years when the president can’t reform medicare or the tax structure. Domestic issues require more cooperation with the congress and the senate than foreign affairs. It is especially true during a president’s second term when they begin to lose political clout with the other branches of government.
I think that an economist would have a better chance of being elected if the president had more power and influence on the domestic agenda. However, in the current system a president is only likely to deal with domestic issues in the first term. The second term is often used for foreign affairs and basic house cleaning issues. If there weren’t term limits in place this might change.
We are also talking about a country that prefers to have a charismatic personality in the highest offices. An actor has a better chance of being elected today than an economist. Look at California! Two actors have been governor. One became a two-term president.
— SeansWActors have tremendous “attention capital” that lets them “buy” attention from the electorate. The idea of “the attention economy” causes quite a few economists some revulsion, but it’s really just information economics.
If you think about it, though, attention is a scarce resource that people allocate on a daily basis.
So maybe an economist who knows their information economics would be a good candidate - how about Varian or some other media economist?
— Aaron_BYou’re wrong. Jed Bartlet — you know the President in the West Wing — is an economist.
http://b4a.healthyinterest.net/char/jed.html
Yep, two fantasies in one — a President who’s a liberal and an economist. Paul Krugman, eat your heart out.
— jsc173Ronald Reagan majored in economics at Eureka. Not sure that makes him an economist but…
http://reagan.eureka.edu/campus/
— jhunsakerWhat about Alan Greenspan? He speeks in short sentences that people try to decode for weeks. He knows policy and is used to refusing bribes or “benefits from special interest groups”.
And he’s used to the media
He’s old, but so was Ronnie Regan.
— AelstroWalter Williams. I had him for a class, he accepts no nonsense, and is hilarious.
— firepatch36Reagan’s degree was in economics. Phil Gramm ran in the primaries and got nowhere with the Dicky Flatt Test.
Larry Summers would have to switch to the Republican party to have a chance. But, maybe Bruce Bartlett would have to become a Democrat.
— rolandpA previous president of Liberia, Charles Taylor, has an economics degree.
— King RatI believe we might have (at least) one US President.
I had to double check, but (if one can believe wikipedia), WOODROW WILSON had a Ph.D. in Social Science from Johns Hopkins. His dissertation was basically political science, but he was later highered onto the “Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and POLITICAL ECONOMY.” (The White House biography says “political science”)
Which adds more to the discussion, Wilson was president of Princeton. So, maybe Summers could have a greater legacy than the Penn World Tables and the Harvard debacle after all….
— keith_kMilton Friedman for President. Richard Epstein for Vice President
— rjtTo add to the list;
Mexican presidents Ernesto Zedillo and Carlos Salinas were economists. Zedillo has a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale, and Salinas a Ph.D. in Political Economy and Government from Harvard. And there have been many more economist presidents in Latin America,
W
— warburgSo, maybe Summers could have a greater legacy than the Penn World Tables and the Harvard debacle after all
Larry Summers was president of Harvard. Summers of the Summers-Heston Penn World Tables is his father, Robert Summers.
— dratskee