Two veterans of the Council of Economic Advisors object to my claim that political appointees have to toe a party line.

Jeff Frankel:

Bryan, When I was a Member of President Clinton’s Council of Economic
Advisers, I never said anything I didn’t believe. I think the same has
been true of others to serve on the CEA, in both Democratic and
Republican administrations. I once wrote an article on what advisers did
when the disagree with the presidential party line on an important
issue: “What Can an Economic Adviser Do When He Disagrees with the
President?”, Challenge, 46, no. 3, May/June 2003, pp.1-24. In every
case, the adviser managed to avoid saying something he did not believe
to be true.

Econlog’s own Lauren Feinstone (Landsburg):

I completely agree with Jeffrey Frankel. When I was an economist at
the CEA during the year of transition between Presidents Reagan and
George H. W. Bush, I certainly never said anything I believed to be
untruthful.

I did witness a substantive change in the role of the Council when the Administration changed, though.

Under Beryl Sprinkel, Reagan’s CEA Chairman (and also a Cabinet
member), we were to always summarize for the President the truth as best
it was known to us–including concise summaries of arguments and
evidence on both sides if there was disagreement in the economics
profession. (Budget deficit matters hinging on Ricardian equivalence
were one kind of example of disagreement in the profession at the time.)

Under Michael Boskin, Bush’s CEA Chairman (not a Cabinet member,
which partly accounts for what I’m about to describe), the structure of
the questions soon changed in a critical way. We were now explicitly
tasked with presenting the best economic arguments in support of the
policy the President wanted to see enacted. For example, we were no
longer to answer “What are the arguments pro or con a free trade
agreement? pro or con raising farm subsidies? What would be the best
policy to strive for on behalf of the economy and country?” We were to
answer: “If the only way to get a free trade agreement through Congress
is to raise farm subsidies, what are the best economic arguments that
can be made to those who oppose raising farm subsidies to convince them
to give in to the compromise?”

I certainly always answered such questions with honesty. However,
the disinterest in weighing all sides increasingly stifled presenting
the best economics arguments. The new emphasis on supporting the
exogenously given policy immediately shifted the previous role of the
CEA as a group of independent academic advisers–or at least a group of
non-bureaucratic, academic government-outsiders–to a more political
role.

I was not the only person who left the Council soon after and very much because of the change.

Interesting observations, but I don’t think they contradict my thesis.  Still, I blame myself for any confusion.  I should have elaborated my position more fully the first time around.  Here goes:

“Toeing the party line” isn’t binary.  It’s a continuous variable.  At one extreme we have lone-wolf free-thinking, where you constantly publicize the unvarnished truth as you see it.  At the other extreme we have abject Stalinism, where you constantly struggle to find out precisely what you’re supposed to say, then say it as loudly and vociferously as possible.  In between these poles, there are endless intermediate positions.

1. Happily share the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth on any topic.

2. Happily share the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth on
any topic, but only with other members of your administration.

3. Happily share the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth on topics directly assigned to you by the administration.  If you disagree in other areas, tone it down or keep it to yourself.

4. Happily share the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth on
any topic if your view coincides with the party line.  Reluctantly share the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth on
any topic if your view diverges from the party line. 

5. Happily share the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth on
any topic if your view coincides with the party line.  Otherwise say, “no comment.”

6. Happily share the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth on
any topic if your view coincides with the party line.  Otherwise disguise your disagreement with evasion.  E.g., if you disagree with the President about X, respond to questions
about X with, “The President’s position on X is…”  And don’t make the
President sound stupid!

7. Disguise your disagreement with the party line with evasion.  If pressed, lie – unless your administration’s position is totally abhorrent to you.

8. When you disagree with the party line, lie if pressed – even if the administration’s position is totally abhorrent to you.

9. Actively lie in defense of the party line even if you disagree.

10. Pressure other members of your administration to evade or lie.

11. Proactively lie in service of the party line.  E.g., originate new specious arguments if the party line seems vulnerable.

12. Only tell the truth if it supports the party line.  Otherwise, proactively lie.

13. Embrace abject Stalinism – best articulated, amusingly enough, by Trotsky:

None of us desires or is able to dispute the will of the party. The
party in the last analysis is always right… I know that one must not
be right against the party. One can be right only with the party, and
through the party, for history has no other road for being in the right.

When I say that economists have to toe the party line, I’m saying that (a) virtually no political appointee is close to position #1, and (b) the large majority of appointees are at #5 or worse.

When Jeff Frankel objects, “In every
case, the adviser managed to avoid saying something he did not believe
to be true,” I admit I’m skeptical.  Every case?*  But even if Frankel’s right, he’s damning appointees with faint praise.  An independent thinker doesn’t merely “manage to avoid” lying.  An independent thinker constantly raises inconvenient topics and defends unpalatable truths.  He goes out of his way to make the truth known – not just to his fellows, but to the world.  Many bloggers and pundits – and some academic researchers – actually try to do this.  What appointee even potentially qualifies?

You could object, of course, that every functioning organization has and needs a party line.  Otherwise people would just sit around arguing all day.  Maybe so.  But the idea that an economist can take a political appointment without submitting to a party line just isn’t credible.

* In contrast, when Lauren says, “I certainly never said anything I believed to be
untruthful,” I’m not skeptical at all.  One honest outlier is far more believable than a culture of honesty.