In 1981, 364 economists wrote to The Times to condemn the Thatcher Government's lunatic monetarise policies.
In 2008, 16 economists have written to The Sunday Telegraph to condemn Alistair Darling's plans to spend his way out of the recession.
They couldn't even reach 5% of the 1981 figure... it's a sad day for right-wing protest.
1 comment:
I agree on the face of it not particularly impressive but these guys are protesting three weeks after the policies were declared, rather than 18 months. Also you neglect to mention that many of the academics in the 1981 protest had their wages frozen as part of a policy designed to reduce inflation (its merits were questionable for sure but there you are) so they were hardly likely to be well disposed to the Thatcher administration. Combine this with the left leaning nature of academia and you might explain the discrepancy to a certain degree.
It'll be interesting to se if there is such a consensus in 2010.
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