The Forsaken-Liberty Syndrome: Looking at Published Judgments to Say Whether Economists Reach a Conclusion

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Forthcoming

GMU Working Paper in Economics No. 12-39

28 Pages Posted: 1 Sep 2012

See all articles by Daniel B. Klein

Daniel B. Klein

George Mason University - Department of Economics; George Mason University - Mercatus Center

Date Written: August 31, 2012

Abstract

Do economists reach a conclusion on a given policy issue? One way to answer the question is to survey economists at large. Another is to look at the published judgments of economists who have gone on the record. Relative to an anonymous survey, going on the record makes for much greater accountability, and presumably more personal responsibility. I discuss eleven studies of economists’ published judgments. Several of them show greater support for liberalization than found among economists at large. This is offered as evidence of what I call the forsaken-liberty syndrome. I discuss the nature of this test of such syndrome and point to some of the larger questions to which it relates.

Keywords: Economists, judgment, liberalization, consensus

JEL Classification: A11, A13, A14

Suggested Citation

Klein, Daniel B., The Forsaken-Liberty Syndrome: Looking at Published Judgments to Say Whether Economists Reach a Conclusion (August 31, 2012). American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Forthcoming, GMU Working Paper in Economics No. 12-39, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2139400 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2139400

Daniel B. Klein (Contact Author)

George Mason University - Department of Economics ( email )

4400 University Drive
Fairfax, VA 22030
United States

HOME PAGE: http://economics.gmu.edu/people/dklein

George Mason University - Mercatus Center ( email )

3434 Washington Blvd., 4th Floor
Arlington, VA 22201
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
288
Abstract Views
4,228
Rank
192,991
PlumX Metrics