Duke Professors Join Cato Declaration Against Stimulus Plan

Five Duke professors signed a declaration prepared by the Cato Institute that ran in Wednesday's New York Times . Cato is a libertarian-leaning think-tank located in Washington, D.C. A PDF version of the ad can be found here.

The five are:

• John Coleman, professor in the Fuqua School of Business
• Adriano Rampini, professor in the Fuqua School of Business
• Juan Rubio Ramirez, professor in the Department of Economics
• Edward Tower, professor in the Department of Economics
• Michael Munger, professor and chair of Department of Economics. Munger also ran as the Libertarian candidate for NC Governor last November.

The ad opens with a quote by President Barack Obama from earlier this month: "There is no disagreement that we need action by our government, a recovery plan that will help to jumpstart the economy." To this, the signers replied, "With all due respect Mr.President,that is not true." The ad goes on to explain why the fiscal stimulus is a bad idea, and why they believe there is not and should not be a consensus on the issue.

Keep your eyes peeled for a story with quotes from the above professors in the print edition of The Chronicle.