The Trump Choice That’s Uniting Many Economists Against It

How many commissioners of the Bureau of Labor Statistics can you name? For the vast majority of people (and even most economists) the answer would be zero. And for good reason. While several highly accomplished and effective people have served in that role over the years, it is fundamentally about making sure the plumbing of our data infrastructure is working. Most of us just accept that the data is the best possible estimate of the economy — just as we do not think much about where our water comes from, we simply drink it — and instead argue about much harder and less objective questions, like whether inflation is transitory or job growth is trending toward recession.