What if the politicians pandered to economists?

N. Gregory Mankiw, professor of economics at Harvard, has an article in the New York Times which asks What if the Candidates Pandered to Economists?. Mankiw asks readers to

Imagine that those running for office tailored their economic positions to attract the experts in the field. What would it take to put the nation’s economists solidly behind a candidate?

Mankiw offers

... an eight-plank platform designed to attract a majority of economists.

Now the piece is written in terms of the upcoming US Presidential race but most of points apply to the upcoming election here in New Zealand as well.

Mankiw's eight points - he explains each in his article

1. SUPPORT FREE TRADE
2. OPPOSE FARM SUBSIDIES
3. LEAVE OIL COMPANIES AND SPECULATORS ALONE
4. TAX THE USE OF ENERGY
5. RAISE THE RETIREMENT AGE
6. INVITE MORE SKILLED IMMIGRANTS
7. LIBERALIZE DRUG POLICY
8. RAISE FUNDS FOR ECONOMIC RESEARCH

Number 8 gets my vote!:-)

Mark J. Perry doesn't agree with 4, 5 and 8, while Tyler Cowen asks "does he mean carbon-based energy?" when thinking about 4 and he says "I don't disagree that there is a consensus on retirement age but it was news to me to read that" and "... personally I would sooner subsidize hard science than economics; I don't think we've earned our keep lately!". Arnold Kling says "Greg Mankiw runs on support for free trade, opposition to farm subsidies, an energy tax, raising the retirement age, and other proposals. I think he is correct that this platform would win a lot of votes with Ph.D economists. It would probably do horribly with the public at large. Cue Bryan Caplan, even though my guess is that he would not be such a fan of the energy tax."