Economics, Economists, and Public Policy

Authors

Stephen A. Woodbury, Michigan State University and W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment ResearchFollow

Upjohn Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4474-2415

Publication Date

2000

Source

The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance 40(4): 417-430

Abstract

This article examines the role of economics and economists in shaping public policy by, first, examining the employment of economists in government, academe, and the private sector. In the United States, only a minority of Ph.D. economists (about 12 percent) are employed in government, and several important departments of the federal government employ few economists. The article goes on to illustrate the pitfalls that economists face in assisting and advising with public policy by examining the adoption of statistical profiling in Unemployment Insurance. The article concludes that, if the economics profession and economic research are to be effective in shaping public policy, then academic economists must become more directly involved with policy makers in government and decision makers in business.

DOI

10.1016/S1062-9769(00)00049-1

Publisher

Elsevier-ScienceDirect

Note

This article is revised from a Presidential Address delivered to the Midwest Economics Association, Nashville, Tennessee, March 27, 1999

Subject Areas

Industry studies