First appeared on FOX: The letter, signed by 16 leading economists warning of the economic dangers of former President Trump’s election, has been circulated by the Biden campaign and its surrogates, and many of the signatories are past donors or political supporters of Biden.
“While we each have different views on the details of economic policy, we all agree that Joe Biden’s economic policies are far superior to those of Donald Trump,” the economists initially said in the letter. Axios reported: This is what various members of the Biden campaign promoted on X (formerly Twitter) this week.
Fox News Digital reviewed the letter’s Nobel Prize signatories and found that they had made political donations to President Biden’s 2020 and 2024 election campaigns. The signatories have also donated tens of thousands of dollars to other Democratic candidates and signed previous letters supporting Biden’s policies, including attacking a “self-serving and restless” Trump.
The letter was reportedly led by Columbia University professor and economist Joseph Stiglitz, who previously signed a letter supporting Biden’s “Build Back Better” policies and donated $1,250 to the Biden Victory Fund in 2020.
Expert predicts inflation will complicate Biden’s election: ‘It’s too late’ to fix it
Former President Trump and President Biden (Getty Images)
From 2004 to 2020, Stiglitz Over $90,000 Donated to the Democratic candidate, according to FEC records.
Georgetown University professor George A. Akerlof, wife of Biden’s Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, gave $25,000 to the Biden Victory Fund and reached the donor limit in 2020, giving $5,600 to the campaign.
Akerlof, who has donated roughly $90,000 to Democrats between the 1990s and 2022, also signed a letter in support of Build Back Better in 2020. Trump’s reelection efforts “It’s selfish and reckless.”
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China, July 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Claudia Goldin, a Harvard economist and historian, donated $500 to the Biden campaigns in 2020 and 2024 and has donated more than $8,000 to Democrats in recent years. Signed the 2020 letter I support the Biden campaign.
Economist and mathematician Eric Maskin signed a letter in 2020 expressing support for Biden’s policies and has donated $3,000 in recent years to Democrats, including Senate candidates Raphael Warnock, Beto O’Rourke and Jon Ossoff.
Asked to comment on his history of supporting Biden and the Democratic Party, Maskin said in a statement to Fox News Digital, “I am a registered Democrat and have occasionally donated to Democratic candidates, but I have also voted for many Republicans over the years (including Massachusetts gubernatorial candidates Bill Weld and Charlie Baker).”
He added that he considers himself “more of a centrist than a hard-line partisan along either ideological lines,” pointing to an op-ed he recently wrote in support of Republican senators and against political polarization, saying he “supported Biden’s 2020 policies on their economic merits and signed the recent letter for the same reasons.”
Biden responded to criticism last week by repeating his false claim that inflation was 9% when he took office.
Stanford University economist Paul Milgrom also previously signed the letter. Helping us build back better He called Trump’s 2020 campaign “selfish and reckless.”
Daniel McFadden, an economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley, donated at least $4,500 to Democrats in 2020 and signed a letter saying Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan would “mitigate” inflation. Part of another letter I will support Biden in 2020.
President Biden has faced backlash from Republicans and Democrats over his “Build Back Better” policies. (Reuters)
Roger Myerson, an economist at the University of Chicago, donated more than $40,000 to Democrats between 2004 and 2024, and donated $2,350 to the Biden campaign in 2020 and $250 in 2024.
Meyerson previously signed a letter supporting Build Back Better and Biden’s economic recovery agenda. The University of Chicago economist took to Twitter after the letter was released to write, “The existence of dictators from day one has been evil in America, and we as patriotic Americans should bear witness to that fact.”
“As an economist, I can attest that his policies would also not help control inflation,” he added.
Economist Edmund S. Phelps Wrote an article In 2020, he wrote an article titled “The Economic Case for Biden,” in which he said everything Trump had argued so far had been a “huge failure.”
Inflation has risen 20% since President Biden took office.
Phelps has donated to Democrats in the past, giving $1,500 to Democratic House candidates and $25 to Pete Buttigieg.
Boston University economist Paul Romer has previously described the Trump administration as “disastrous” and publicly supported impeachment. Romer endorsed Biden in a 2020 letter, praising his handling of the pandemic and signing a letter in support of “Build Back Better.”
Stanford University economist Alvin Roth also signed several letters against Trump, backing one in which he called him “selfish and reckless.” Donated $1,250 In 2008, he became presidential candidate Barack Obama.
Nobel Prize-winning economist William Sharpe donated $500 to the Biden campaign and $500 to the Biden Victory Fund in 2020. Sharpe also Signed the letter In 2020, business leaders argued that it was time to speak out against President Trump and the threat he poses “to the Republic.”
Former President Obama discussed it with President Biden during the unveiling of Obama’s official White House portrait on September 7, 2022, in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Yale University economist Robert Shiller donated $1,000 to the Biden Victory Fund in 2020 and has donated more than $20,000 total to Democrats in recent years. In 2019, Shiller said he would support any candidate over Trump.
Princeton University economist Christopher Sims donated $500 to the Biden Victory Fund in 2020 and has donated more than $9,000 to various Democrats.
Two British economists on the list, Sir Oliver Hart and Sir Angus Deaton, signed letters supporting Build Back Better. Lord Hart endorsed Biden in 2020 and also signed a 2020 letter calling Trump “selfish and reckless.”
Multiple Biden campaign officials, including Biden rapid response adviser James Singer and campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez, jumped on the news Tuesday morning, amplifying Axios’ report.
The report was also shared and cited by Biden surrogates, including White House Senior Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates and California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Tim Murtaugh, who served as a spokesman for Trump’s 2020 campaign, The report was ridiculed “Amazing that this happened just in time for Biden to mention this in the next debate (which he will),” he posted on social media on Tuesday.
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“This is as lucky as the letter from 51 intelligence agents claiming that Hunter’s laptop contained Russian disinformation,” Murtaugh continued. “It’s fantastic.”
Axios did not mention the political past of the economists mentioned in the article, nor did it mention that one of the key signatories is married to Biden’s Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen.
Axios did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Biden campaign and all 16 economists for comment.
