AHC: Economist as POTUS

The newly elected president of Austria has had a published article in *Econometrica.* https://www.jstor.org/stable/1914006?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

AHC: Get a POTUS who could have been published there...

The only economists I can think of who were prominent in American electoral politics were Paul Douglas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Douglas Phil Gramm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Gramm and Dick Armey. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Armey And I don't see any of them as particularly likely presidential prospects, though Gramm did run in 1996.

Of course as Greg Mankiw notes, http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2006/12/economist-politicians.html there are not all that many economists in the US anyway ("Only about 1000 econ PhDs are awarded each year, and only about half these are U.S. citizens") so maybe we shouldn't be surprised there are so few in elective office.
 
I think you're more likely to find a politician who happens to have an economist degree than an economist who becomes a politician. Someone who's taught economics at university level would be even harder to find because faculty positions are usually terminal career positions.
 
But note the contrast with Europe (from a paper published in 1993):

"In Europe, the rank of a Prime Minister was, after 1945, achieved by the
following former economics professors at universities: Viggo Kampmann in
Denmark; Raymond Barre in France; Ludwig Erhard in Germany; Andreas
Papandreou in Greece; Jelle Zijlstra in the Netherlands; K'are Willoch in
Norway; Antonio Salazar and Anibal Cavaco Silva in Portugal; Harold Wilson in
the United Kingdom; and, most recently, Tansu Ciller in Turkey."


https://www.unifr.ch/finwiss/assets...henberger_American and European Economics.pdf
 
Sa
But note the contrast with Europe (from a paper published in 1993):

"In Europe, the rank of a Prime Minister was, after 1945, achieved by the
following former economics professors at universities: Viggo Kampmann in
Denmark; Raymond Barre in France; Ludwig Erhard in Germany; Andreas
Papandreou in Greece; Jelle Zijlstra in the Netherlands; K'are Willoch in
Norway; Antonio Salazar and Anibal Cavaco Silva in Portugal; Harold Wilson in
the United Kingdom; and, most recently, Tansu Ciller in Turkey."


https://www.unifr.ch/finwiss/assets/files/Publikationen/11.Eichenberger_American and European Economics.pdf

Salazar was already Prime Minister of Portugal before 1945 and came to power after a military coup in 1922 that led to 48 year right wing dictatorship.
 
Gramm had a legit shot in 96 if Dole screws up- but wouldhave been a disaster- as his economic theories were partially responsible for the 2007 near-depression.
That said, he might have moderated the Republicans on social issues- his wife was Korean.
 
Top