Over 150 economists, including Nobel laureate Vernon Smith of George Mason University and Chapman University, are calling for government spending cuts that exceed the debt ceiling hike.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) released a statement signed by the more than 150 economists backing his call for spending cuts that would exceed any increase in the debt limit. The statement is signed by some of our country’s best economic minds, including a Nobel Prize winner (Robert Mundell); economists from schools such as George Mason University (Henry Manne, Thomas Rustici, Vernon Smith emeritus); Stanford (Michael Boskin, John F. Cogan, Eric A. Hanushek, David R. Henderson, James C. Miller III, John B. Taylor) and Carnegie-Mellon (Robert Dammon, Marvin Goodfriend, Allan Meltzer); a former U.S. Secretary of State (George P. Shultz); and two former directors of the Congressional Budget Office (Douglas Holtz-Eakin, June O’Neill).
Below is the text of the economists’ statement:
A DEBT LIMIT INCREASE WITHOUT SIGNIFICANT SPENDING CUTS & BUDGET REFORMS WILL DESTROY AMERICAN JOBS
An increase in the national debt limit that is not accompanied by significant spending cuts and budget reforms to address our government’s spending addiction will harm private-sector job creation in America. It is critical that any debt limit legislation enacted by Congress include spending cuts and reforms that are greater than the accompanying increase in debt authority being granted to the president. We will not succeed in balancing the federal budget and overcoming the challenges of our debt until we succeed in committing ourselves to government policies that allow our economy to grow. An increase in the national debt limit that is not accompanied by significant spending cuts and budget reforms would harm private-sector job growth and represent a tremendous setback in the effort to deal with our national debt.
Ryan C. Amacher, University of Texas at Arlington
Michael Applegate, Oklahoma State University
King Banaian, St. Cloud State University
Stacie Beck, University of Delaware
John Bethune, Barton College
Charles W. Baird, California State University, East Bay
Bruce Bender, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Donald R. Booth, Chapman University
Michael Boskin, Stanford University
David A. Brat, Randolph-Macon College
David P. Brown, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Todd G. Buchholz, Two Oceans Management
Samantha Carrington, California State University
Don Chance, Louisiana State University
Candice Clark, Economic Consultant
R. Morris Coats, Nicholls State University
John F. Cogan, Hoover Institution
Scott Bradford, Brigham Young University
Phillip J. Bryson, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Oral Capps Jr., Texas A&M University
James E. Carter, Emerson Electric Co.
Robert E. Chatfield, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Kenneth W. Clarkson, University of Miami
John P. Cochran, Metropolitan State College of Denver
Robert Collinge, University of Texas at San Antonio
Kathleen B. Cooper, Southern Methodist University
Nicole Crain, Lafayette University
Robert Crouch, University of California, Santa Barbara
Coldwell Daniel, III, The University of Memphis
J. Ronnie Davis, University of New Orleans
Ted Day, University of Texas at Dallas
Arthur T. Denzau, Claremont Graduate University
Nasser Duella, California State University, Fullerton
Joseph W. Duncan, Private Consultant on Information Policy
Frank Egan, Trinity College
Dorla A. Evans, University of Alabama –Huntsville
Frank Falero, California State University
Layton W. Franko, Queens College
Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Hudson Institute
Dave Garthoff, The University of Akron – Akron, Ohio
Gerald Gay, Georgia State University
Cathleen J. Coolidge, California State University, Chico
Mike Cosgrove, University of Dallas
Clyde Wayne Crews, Jr., Competitive Enterprise Institute
Robert Dammon, Carnegie Mellon University
Antony Davies, Duquesne University
Stephen J. Dempsey, University of Vermont
Phoebus J. Dhrymes, Columbia University
Floyd H. Duncan, Virginia Military Institute
John Eckalbar, California State University
John B. Egger, Towson University
Dino Falaschetti, Florida State Law
Michelle Michot Foss, University of Texas
Michele Fratianni, Indiana University
Delworth B. Gardner, Brigham Young University
James R. Garven, Baylor University
Robert Genetski, classicalprinciples.com
Micha Gisser, University of New Mexico
Joseph A. Giacalone, St. John’s University, NY
David Gillette, Truman State University
Marvin Goodfriend, Carnegie Mellon University
Richard L. Gordon, The Pennsylvania State University
Richard J. Grant, Lipscomb University
Earl L. Grinols, Baylor University
Eric A. Hanushek, Hoover Institution
Joseph H. Haslag, University of Missouri
Joel Hay, University of Southern California
David R. Henderson, Hoover Institution
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, American Action Forum
Chris Inama, Golden State University
Stephen Jackstadt, University of Alaska Anchorage
Gerald R. Jensen, Northern Illinois University
Jerry L. Jordan, Pacific Academy for Advance Studies
Alexander Katkov, Johnson & Wales University
Richard LaNear, Missouri Southern State University
Lawrence Goodman, Center for Financial Stability, Inc.
Ed Graham, University of North Carolina at Wilmington
Paul Gregory, University of Houston
Dennis Halcoussis, California State University, Northridge
Stephen Happel, Arizona State University
Kevin Hassett, American Enterprise Institute
Bob Heidt, Indiana University – Bloomington
John P. Hoehn, Michigan State University
C. Thomas Howard, University of Denver
F. Owen Irvine, Michigan State University
Joseph M. Jadlow, Oklahoma State University
Ryan S. Johnson, BYU-Idaho
June O’Neill, Baruch College, CUNY
Marek Kolar, Trine University
Corinne Krupp, Duke University
Norman Lefton, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville
Larry Lindsey, The Lindsey Group
Jane Lillydahl, University of Colorado at Boulder
R. Ashley Lyman, University of Idaho
David Malpass, Encima Global
Henry Manne, George Mason University
Timothy Mathews, Kennesaw State University
Roger Meiners, University of Texas-Arlington
James C. Miller III, Hoover Institution
Ed Miseta, Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
Andrew P. Morriss, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
John E. Murray, University of Toledo
George R. Neumann, University of Iowa
Seth W. Norton, Wheaton College
James B. O’Neill, University of Delaware
Svetozar Pejovich, Texas A&M University
Ivan Pongracic, Jr., Hillsdale College
John A. Powers, University of Cincinnati
Richard W. Rahn, Cato Institute
Glenn MacDonald, Washington University in St. Louis
Yuri N. Maltsev, Carthage College
Michael L. Marlow, California Polytechnic State University
Martin C. McGuire, University of California-Irvine
Allan Meltzer, Carnegie Mellon University
Thomas P. Miller, American Enterprise Institute
James Moncur, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Robert Mundell, Nobel Laureate in Economics, 1999
Richard F. Muth, Emory University
Robert D. Niehaus, Robert D. Niehaus, Inc.
Lee E. Ohanian, University of California, Los Angelas
Stephen T. Parente, University of Minnesota
G. Michael Phillips, California State University, Northridge
William Poole, University of Delaware
Ronald L. Promboin, University of Maryland University College
James B. Ramsey, New York University
Thomas A. Rhee, California State University, Long Beach
R. David Ranson, H.C. Wainwright & Co. Economics Inc.
Christine P. Ries, Georgia Institute of Technology
Thomas Carl Rustici, George Mason University
Thomas R. Saving, Texas A&M University
Judy Shelton, Atlas Economic Research Foundation
George P. Shultz, Hoover Institution
James F. Smith, EconForecaster, LLC
Houston H. Stokes, University of Illinois at Chicago
Avanidhar Subrahmanyam (Subra), University of California, Los Angeles
Robert Tamura, Clemson University
Clifford F. Thies, Shenandoah University
Leo Troy, Rutgers University-Newark
George Viksnins, Georgetown University
James P. Weston, Rice University
Michael E. Williams, University of Denver
Michael Wohlgenant, North Carolina State University
Gene C. Wunder, Washburn University
Paul H. Rubin, Emory University
Gary J. Santoni, Ball State University
Robert Haney Scott, California State University, Chico
William F. Shughart II, The University of Mississippi
Timothy F. Slaper, Indiana University
Vernon Smith, Chapman University School of Law
Lawrence Southwick, University at Buffalo
Brian Strow, Western Kentucky University
Richard J. Sweeney, Georgetown University
John B. Taylor, Hoover Institution
Stephen A. Tolbert, Jr., Montgomery County Community College (PA)
David G Tuerk, Suffolk University
Richard Vedder, Ohio University
Sherri L. Wall, University of Alaska Fairbanks
J. Gregg Whittaker, William and Jewell College
D. Mark Wilson, Applied Economic Strategies
Gary Wolfram, Hillsdale College
Benjamin Zycher, Pacific Research Institute
Joseph Zoric, Franciscan University of Steubenville
