All the economists who I know have names. Apparently the NYT knows economists without names. How else can we explain a statement like: "Germany, Europe’s largest economy, will still probably see its gross domestic product contract by about 6 percent for the full year, economists say." or later in the same piece: "Already, the euro area’s unemployment rate stands at 9.4 percent, its highest level in 10 years, and the anemic growth of the coming quarters will not be enough to arrest the slide. That, in turn, could drag down consumer confidence or even generate a political backlash in Europe, economists said." The theme of the article is that Europe's economy will suffer much more than that of the U.S. in part because it has not been as aggressive in pushing stimulus. While this may be true, a big factor in Europe's slump has been a plunge in exports. With demand in the United States for cars and other manufactured goods picking up, Europe's economy will get a substantial boost from exports in the 3rd and 4th quarters of this year. Some economists may view this boost as being sufficient to prevent a long and deep slump. For this reason, it would have been helpful to assign names to the economists who were being cited instead of implying that their views are universally held by economists.
--Dean Baker
