Do Economists Agree on Anything? Yes!

[aphar]

http://ideas.repec.org/a/bep/evoice/3200691.html
http://www.bepress.com/ev/vol3/iss9/art1/
http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2006/11/consensus-of-economists.html

Robert Whaples surveys PhD members of the American Economic Association and finds substantial agreement on a wide range of policy issues. For example:

• 90.1 percent disagree with the position that "the U.S. should restrict employers from outsourcing work to foreign countries."


• 87.5 percent agree that "the U.S. should eliminate remaining tariffs and other barriers to trade."


• 85.2 percent agree that "the U.S. should eliminate agricultural subsidies."


• 85.3 percent agree that "the gap between Social Security funds and expenditures will become unsustainably large within the next fifty years if current policies remain unchanged."


• 77.2 percent agree that "the best way to deal with Social Security's long-term funding gap is to increase the normal retirement age."


• 67.1 percent agree that "parents should be given educational vouchers which can be used at government-run or privately-run schools."


• 65.0 percent agree that "the U.S. should increase energy taxes."

One issue that fails to generate consensus is the minimum wage: 37.7 percent want it increased, while 46.8 percent want it eliminated.