Sixteen Nobel Prize-winning economists issued a joint letter Tuesday, warning against the economic dangers they foresee if former President Donald Trump is re-elected.
Among their concerns is the potential for renewed inflation, according to Axios, which first reported the news.
“While each of us has different views on the particulars of various economic policies, we all agree that Joe Biden’s economic agenda is vastly superior to Donald Trump’s,” they wrote in the letter.
“There is rightly a worry that Donald Trump will reignite this inflation, with his fiscally irresponsible budgets.”
Trump’s proposed policies include making his first-term tax cuts permanent, imposing universal tariffs on imports, particularly targeting China with rates between 60% and 100%, and pressuring the Federal Reserve Board to lower interest rates.
Experts from Wall Street and economic analysts predict these measures could lead to a resurgence of inflation, which has only recently shown signs of cooling.
Joseph Stiglitz, a 2001 Nobel laureate, spearheaded the letter. The signatories included George Akerlof, Sir Angus Deaton, Claudia Goldin, Sir Oliver Hart, Eric Maskin, Daniel McFadden, Paul Milgrom, Roger Myerson, Edmund Phelps, Paul Romer, Alvin Roth, William Sharpe, Robert Shiller, Christopher Sims, and Robert Wilson.
“Nonpartisan researchers, including at Evercore, Allianz, Oxford Economics, and the Peterson Institute, predict that if Donald Trump successfully enacts his agenda, it will increase inflation,” the economists wrote.
Stiglitz said the economists decided to write the letter because of recent polls showing voters preferring Trump over Biden for economic management.
“A lot of people think Trump would be better for the economy than Biden,” Stiglitz said in an interview with CNBC. “I thought it would be important for Americans to know that at least a group of credible economists differs very strongly,” he added.
The release of the letter comes just before the first presidential debate between Trump and Biden, which is expected to focus heavily on economic issues, including inflation.
The Trump campaign dismissed the economists’ warnings.
“The American people don’t need worthless out of touch Nobel peace prize winners to tell them which president put more money in their pockets,” said Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt.
The Biden campaign said: “Top economists, Nobel Prize winners, and business leaders all know America can’t afford Trump’s dangerous economic agenda.”
