The Romney Campaign Represents A Culture Of Fraud

Paul Krugman is finding it difficult to stay away from his blog while he is on vacation.  Its good to have him back for a day.  He does a good job in this article of synthesizing the criticisms that others have been making about the campaign.  His focus in this op-ed is on the economic white paper that was authored by 3 of the most prominent economists in the US, who also are cloaked in the prestige provided by Harvard, Columbia and Stanford that provide them with a small share of their income.  They misrepresented the research of other economists to argue that the slow US recovery has been caused by policies adopted by the Obama administration.  The economists that they cited have made their objections public.  Mankiw, Hubbard and Taylor have been disgraced. Their institutions have also been shamed.  Unfortunately, their performance is not likely to affect them or the reputations of their universities.  Professors will continue to order their best selling textbooks for their classes as if nothing has happened.  Their books are well written and they cover the topics that most of them want to teach.  Ironically, one of the prevailing myths found in most textbooks, is the idea that economics is a positive science, and not a normative science.  The purpose of economics is to stick to the facts, and to provide an objective perspective on the economic behavior of individuals and organizations.  Politics does not intrude upon economic analysis according the textbooks.