Symposium co-sponsored by the Mercatus Center:

Economists on the Welfare State and the Regulatory State: Why Don’t Any Argue in Favor of One and Against the Other?

The symposium Prologue suggests that among economists in the United States, on matters of the welfare state and the regulatory state, virtually none favors one while opposing the other. Such pattern is a common and intuitive impression, and is supported by scatterplots of survey data. But what explains the pattern? Why don’t some economists favor one and oppose the other?

Contributors address those questions:

Dean Baker:

Do Welfare State Liberals Also Love Regulation?

Andreas Bergh:

Yes, There Are Hayekian Welfare States (At Least in Theory)

Marjorie Griffin Cohen:

The Strange Career of Regulation in the Welfare State

Robert Higgs:

Two Ideological Ships Passing in the Night

Arnold Kling:

Differences in Opinion Among Economists About Government and Market Efficiency

Anthony Randazzo and Jonathan Haidt:

The Moral Narratives of Economists

Scott Sumner:

Moral Differences in Economics: Why Is the Left-Right Divide Widening?

Cass Sunstein:

Unhelpful Abstractions and the Standard View