Barack Obama's Top Economist Calls Stimulus Checks 'Unfortunate'

Christina Roemer

Berkeley economics professor Christina Romer, a former chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers under Barak Obama, has come out against stimulus checks.

She has some kind of wacky technocratic micro-management Keynesian objection, but at least she is against them-- unfortunately, she is not against all additional government spending.

Her Keynesian view is that stimulus checks "certainly do something," but the "bang-for-the-buck" was not particularly high compared to other forms of aid.

Speaking via videoconference this weekend at the annual American Economic Association meeting, Romer said: "They just go to everyone below a certain income level. And to the degree that they work, they stimulate spending overall, which is not necessarily desirable during a pandemic."

So she joins Larry Summers in the Keynesian anti-stimulus camp.

-RW