Brad DeLong

James Bradford DeLong (born June 24, 1960) is an American economist, and Professor of Economics at University of California at Berkeley. He received a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1987, and has previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy, United States Department of the Treasury, from April 1993 to May 1995.

DeLong has cited the “liquidationist” philosophy of Herbert Hoover as proof that Hoover preferred a laissez-faire approach to fighting the Great Depression, and proof that it failed. He has quoted selected portions of Hoover’s memoirs:

Now Prof. Boldrin is following a very old trail, all right, his trail was in fact the ruling theory behind the Hoover Administration’s policies in the 1930s. And to quote from President Herbert Hoover’s autobiography, during his administration economic policy was made by quote "the leave-it-alone liquidationists headed by my Secretary of the Treasury Mellon, who felt the government must keep its hands off the economy and let the slump liquidate itself."

while omitting Hoover’s conclusion three paragraphs later:

But other members of the Administration, also having economic responsibilities–Under Secretary of the Treasury Mills, Governor Young of the Reserve Board, Secretary of Commerce Lamont and Secretary of Agriculture Hyde–believed with me that we should use the powers of government to cushion the situation.

DeLong frequently deletes or truncates comments on his blog Grasping Reality…, that refute or object to the premise of his assertions.

Links

• “Grasping Reality… by The Semi-Daily Journal of Economist J. Bradford DeLong: Fair, Balanced, and Reality-Based