BEFORE Donald Trump took office, many commentators hoped that he would immerse himself in high-quality policy advice, rather than govern from his gut. The haphazard first few weeks of his presidency have done little to encourage those hopes. Neither will Mr Trump’s decision, confirmed on February 9th, that the still-to-be-named Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers will not serve the cabinet. This confirms both Mr Trump’s disdain for wonkish wisdom of the kind the CEA usually dispenses, and his satisfaction with the economic policy advice he already gets.

There is no shortage of that. Formally, the Treasury secretary is chief among the president’s many economic advisers. Indeed, Steve Mnuchin, Mr Trump’s nominee for that role, has voiced an ambition to co-ordinate economic policymaking across government. Then there is the National Economic Council, a west wing policy shop. Mr Trump has put Gary Cohn, the former number two at Goldman Sachs, in charge of that. Finally, Mr Trump has created the White House National Trade Council, which will help him renegotiate NAFTA and overhaul trade with China. Peter Navarro, an eccentric economics professor, leads that body. He is not in the cabinet, but as the only academic economist who is close to Mr Trump, it is Mr Navarro’s status that rises most as the CEA’s prominence falls.

In the past, the CEA’s economists, traditionally scholars on leave from their universities, have sought to bring some academic rigor to presidential policymaking. Chairs tend to see themselves as internal lobbyists for sober economics. For example, in the early 1980s, then chair Martin Feldstein successfully argued for tax rises on corporations to help contain ballooning deficits. In the early 2000s, Greg Mankiw’s CEA campaigned less successfully for reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two government-sponsored housing agencies that later helped inflate a housing bubble. The CEA also helps with technical tasks, like economic forecasting and reviewing the cost-benefit analysis behind government regulations. Finally, it plays a bit part communications role. By giving weighty intellectual backing to the White House’s agenda, it can convince people like your blogger that the president’s policies are more than just flim-flam.

Mr Trump, however, cares little for the approval of nerds. Mr Navarro’s views on trade are well outside the mainstream, and he is not a big hitter in academic circles (see article). A failure to fall in line on trade reportedly cost Larry Kudlow, an economic pundit, the CEA job. For a while, it looked as if Kevin Hassett of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think-tank, might land the CEA role. But something seems to be standing in the way of his nomination, too. Other than Mr Navarro, Mr Trump struggles to find economists who will support him. Perhaps as a result, his cabinet will be wonk-free.