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Conor Clarke

Conor Clarke - Conor Clarke is the editor, with Michael Kinsley, of Creative Capitalism. He was previously a fellow at The Atlantic and an editor at The Guardian. More

Conor Clarke is the editor, with Michael Kinsley, of Creative Capitalism, an economics blog that was recently published in book form by Simon and Schuster. He was previously a fellow at The Atlantic and an editor at The Guardian. He is also on Twitter.

Is there economic consensus about the stimulus?

By Conor Clarke
Feb 12 2009, 3:54 PM ET Comment

The Wall Street Journal released its latest forecasting survey today. There seems to be strong consensus among economists that a recovery is not likely to start in the second half of this year. There seems to be an equally strong consensus that the stimulus package (and the flaws thereof) has something to do with this. But there does not seem to be a strong consensus on why that's the case:

A boost to the economy from the government stimulus package has been a key feature of most forecasts for a rosy finish to 2009, but economists in the February survey largely expressed disappointment with how the package is shaping up. Comments on the package's influence this year say it is "too late," "provides little boost," "trivial," "too big," "too small" and a "colossal waste of money."

It would seem that "big," "small," "colossal" and "trivial" are mutually exclusive.


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