American Economic Association - Attitudes of Members

Attitudes of Members

In 1959, George Stigler argued that studying economics tends to make one “conservative,” and indeed that "economists are conservative." Paul Krugman contends that the neoclassical micro-macro synthesis was “an imperfect but workable union achieved half a century ago, which has allowed economists to combine moderately activist views about monetary policy with otherwise generally free market beliefs.” Deirdre McCloskey, exposing the "secret sins of economists," in 2002 said, “Libertarianism is typical of economics, especially English-speaking economics, and most especially American economics”

Using survey data from professors in the 1970s, sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset concluded, "Many of the most influential younger scholars in are supporters of varying forms of antistatist free-market doctrines”. More recent 21st century surveys show very different results and demonstrate that free-market economists constitute a small portion of all economists. A survey of a sample of AEA members identified their views on 18 specific forms of government activism, finding that about 8% of AEA members can be considered supporters of free-market principles and that less than 3% may be called strong supporters. Even the average Republican AEA member is 'middle-of-the-road,' not free market.

William McEachern, an economist at the University of Connecticut, analysed the 2004 campaign contributions of AEA members, committee members, officers, editors, referees, authors, and acknowledgees. He found that 2004 contributions heavily favored the Democratic Party, especially among leadership positions. He argues that this contradicts AEA's claim of non-partisanship, that it harms the economics profession by favoring certain opinions over others, and that it cripples the spirit of discussion that AEA seeks to promote and may lead to intellectual complacency.

Critics of McEachern's stance argue that investigation of AEA economists' campaign contributions is inappropriate. They favor investigation of research, rather than the researcher whose views and ideologies are irrelevant to the data published. Moreover, membership in the Association is open to anyone, regardless of their political views, and thus the political affiliation of members reflects only the decisions of various individuals to join the Association.

Proponents of such investigations argue that a disclosure of ideological sensibilities will enhance authentic discourse. Readers are better able to interpret the text and watch for bias. Nobel laureate Gunnar Myrdal is among the supporters of ideological self-disclosure in economic discourse.