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Divided we stand? Professional consensus and political conflict in academic economics

Author

Listed:
  • Karl Beyer

    (Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria)

  • Stephan Puehringer

    (Institute of Economics, Cusanus University of Bernkastel-Kues, Germany)

Abstract
This paper contributes to the debate on the role of normative values and political preferences among (publicly visible) economists in the US. For this purpose, we conduct a social network analysis on the signatories of economist petitions, which we identify as one channel for economists to exert public influence. We base our analysis on a set of 68 public policy petitions from 2008-2017 in the United States with more than 5,700 signatories and check the robustness of our results with three sub-networks. Our contribution is twofold: On the one hand, we provide an extended empirical basis for the debate on consensus in economics and the role of political preferences and normative values in economics. On the other hand, this paper offers a viable tool to trace the normative charging of (prospective) economist petitions and economists based on the social structure of petition networks. The main empirical finding of our paper is that there is a very strong partisan divide among petition-signing economists in the United States, which mirrors the cleavage within the US political system. We also find that the bipartite partisan structure of the economist petition network increases with the political involvement of economist. This divide is particularly stark in the field of fiscal policy, while it is to a lesser extent also present in other fields of public policy. A greater tendency towards consensus, in turn, can be found with respect to monetary policy, carbon pricing, immigration or free trade or market-based decision tools in general.

Suggested Citation

  • Karl Beyer & Stephan Puehringer, 2019. "Divided we stand? Professional consensus and political conflict in academic economics," ICAE Working Papers 94, Johannes Kepler University, Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy.
    • Handle: RePEc:ico:wpaper:94
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

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    2. Jakub Rybacki, 2019. "Are Central Banks' Research Teams Fragile Because of Groupthink?," KAE Working Papers 2019-045, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of Economic Analysis.
    3. Mohsen Javdani & Ha-Joon Chang, 2023. "Who said or what said? Estimating ideological bias in views among economists," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 47(2), pages 309-339.
    4. Sami Diaf & Jörg Döpke & Ulrich Fritsche & Ida Rockenbach, 2020. "Sharks and minnows in a shoal of words: Measuring latent ideological positions of German economic research institutes based on text mining techniques," Macroeconomics and Finance Series 202001, University of Hamburg, Department of Socioeconomics.
    5. Diaf, Sami & Döpke, Jörg & Fritsche, Ulrich & Rockenbach, Ida, 2022. "Sharks and minnows in a shoal of words: Measuring latent ideological positions based on text mining techniques," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    6. Svenja Flechtner, 2021. "Dimensions of Poverty. Measurement, Epistemic Injustices and Social Activism," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(2), pages 530-544, June.
    7. Jakub Rybacki, 2020. "Are Central Banks’ Research Teams Fragile Because of Groupthink in the Area of Monetary Policy? – Evidence on Inflation Targeting," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 4, pages 81-103.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    social network analysis; social studies of economics; normative values; public economists; economist petitions; United States;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A11 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Role of Economics; Role of Economists
    • A13 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Social Values
    • A14 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Sociology of Economics
    • B20 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - General
    • B30 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals - - - General
    • D04 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Policy: Formulation; Implementation; Evaluation
    • E66 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - General Outlook and Conditions
    • G18 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State

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