White House touts Nobel economists’ support for Biden agenda

The White House on Thursday touted the support that President Biden’s economic plan received from a group of Nobel Prize-winning economists in an open letter released earlier this week.

“While we all have different views on the particulars of various economic policies, we believe that key components of this broader agenda are critical—including tax reforms that make our tax system more equitable and that enable our system to raise the additional funds required to facilitate necessary public investments and achieve our collective goals,” the 15 economists wrote in their letter.

One of the economist who signed the letter, George Akerlof, is the husband of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

“Because this agenda invests in long-term economic capacity and will enhance the ability of more Americans to participate productively in the economy, it will ease longer-term inflationary pressures,” they said, addressing the inflationary concerns often cited by Republicans who oppose Biden’s agenda.

A Morning Consult-Politico poll released in July found that nearly 60 percent of people blame Biden’s economic policies for causing the 13-year inflation high. However, Biden’s economic advisors believe these price increases are temporary and will stabilize as the pandemic subsides. 

“We will have several more months of rapid inflation, so I’m not saying that this is a one-month phenomenon,” Yellen said earlier this year. “But I think over the medium-term, we’ll see inflation decline back toward normal levels.”

The economists also placed their support behind the bipartisan infrastructure bill currently stalled in the House.

“Success in the 21st century will require building upon the bi-partisan infrastructure deal that has passed the Senate, which prioritizes investments in our nation’s ‘hard’ infrastructure,” they wrote, commending the “investments in human capital” that are included in Biden’s Build Back Better agenda.

The letter was signed by leading economic professors from Columbia University, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Stanford University and others.