The Myth of Libertarian Economists

Many on the left discount economics as right-wing propaganda, while many libertarians present economics as supportive of libertarianism. However, the presentation of economists as libertarian is largely a myth, meaning not that no economist is libertarian, but that relatively few are.

In fact, surveys suggest the typical economist is a moderate Democrat, not particularly extreme one way or the other.

Consider the following:

1. 2.9:1---The ratio of Democrats to Republicans among economists (http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/12/21/politics). Among social scientists, economists are the least Democratic and sociologists are the most Democratic, with 21.1 Democrats for every Republican.
2. Many economists believe Obama's 2012 jobs plan, which cuts the payroll tax and increase spending, would likely prevent a 2012 recession (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-28/obama-jobs-plan-prevents-2012-recession-in-survey-of-economists.html).
3. Economists also believed that Obama had "the superior economic plan, a firmer grasp of economics and [would] appoint better economic advisers" (http://www.economist.com/node/12342127?story_id=12342127) compared to McCain. Of 142 economists, 80% believed Obama better understood economics. Even among Republican economists, 46% versus 23% believed Obama possessed better understanding. 81% thought Obama would appoint better advisers than McCain. "On our one-to-five scale, economists on average give Mr Obama’s economic programme a 3.3 and Mr McCain’s a 2.2."
4. According to a survey of 264 economists, "most economists are supporters of safety regulations, gun control, redistribution, public schooling, and anti-discrimination laws. They are evenly mixed on personal choice issues, military action, and the minimum wage. Most economists oppose tighter immigration controls, government ownership of enterprise and tariffs. In voting, the Democratic:Republican ratio is 2.5:1."(http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/klein/PdfPapers/KS_PublCh06.pdf) Generally, economists are slightly liberal but mostly moderate .
5. Economists overwhelmingly favor free trade, with 66.7% of the 264 economists strongly oppose tariffs to protect American industries and 20.1% oppose it mildly, whereas 2.3% strongly support, 3% mildly support these tariffs, and 7.6% have mixed feelings (page 4 of http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/klein/PdfPapers/KS_PublCh06.pdf).
   
6. Economists are mixed on the minimum wage, with 20.5% strongly opposed, 17.8% opposed mildly, 14.4% having mixed feelings, 18.9% mildly supporting, and 28.4% strongly supporting. This means 38.3% oppose the minimum wage, while 47.3% support a minimum wage. Generally, economists have mixed feelings about the minimum wage, considering that 14.4% also have mixed feelings (Ibid.).
7. Economists overwhelmingly favor occupational safety regulations, with a total of 71.5% favoring safety regulations and only 16.9% having mixed feelings (Ibid).
8. Economists overwhelmingly favor pharmaceutical safety controls, with a total 70% favoring such controls and only 15.5% having mixed feelings (Ibid).
9. Economists overwhelmingly favor air and water regulation, with 79.9% supporting and only 8.3% having mixed feelings (Ibid.).
10. Among other issues, economists strongly favor anti-discrimination laws, gun control, controls on hard drugs, support prostitution controls, support gambling controls, strongly oppose government ownership of industry, strongly support redistribution (that's right, economists overwhelmingly support the welfare state), strongly support government production of education, oppose tighter controls on immigration, support foreign aid, and also strongly support strengthening the economy through monetary and fiscal policy. I didn't break all of these figures down since you can read the data yourself in the link I provided.

Though economists don't lean far to the left, it's fair to say they are slightly liberal moderates. These results demonstrate that libertarian economists are almost entirely pseudo-experts or just don't care what consequences policies have (e.g., economists favor foreign aid and government redistribution of wealth). We often think that economists are libertarian simply because libertarian economists are more vocal.

Of course, economic evidence and consequences are not everything to consider in designing policy. Positive economics studies only what empirical data tell us about consequences. Normative economics concerns what consequences are desirable or whether consequences matter in determining policy.