126 Top Economists: Inflation Reduction Act “Will Fight Inflation and Lower Costs”

Today, 126 of our nation's top economists — including 7 Nobel Laureates, 2 former Treasury Secretaries, 2 former Fed Vice Chairs and 2 former CEA Chairs — sent a letter to Congressional leaders urging swift passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. From the letter:

"This historic legislation makes crucial investments in energy, health care, and in shoring up the nation's tax system. These investments will fight inflation and lower costs for American families while setting the stage for strong, stable, and broadly-shared long-term economic growth."

"This proposal addresses some of the country's biggest challenges at a significant scale. And because it is deficit-reducing, it does so while putting downward pressure on inflation."

"We strongly recommend Congress act decisively to build a stronger economy by passing the Inflation Reduction Act as soon as possible."

The Inflation Reduction Act contains key House Democratic priorities including lowering the cost of prescription drugs, reducing the cost of health care for millions of hardworking families by extending ACA subsidies, tackling the climate crisis by reducing carbon pollution and lowering energy costs for Americans. The IRA also reduces the deficit and fights inflation by allocating $300 billion for deficit reduction and it is fully paid for by closing tax loopholes that allow big corporations to avoid paying their fair share.

Read the full letter below:

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August 2, 2022

The Honorable Charles Schumer Majority Leader

United States Senate Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Mitch McConnell Minority Leader

United States Senate Washington, D.C. 20510

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Speaker

U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable Kevin McCarthy Minority Leader

U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Senate Majority Leader Schumer, Senate Minority Leader McConnell, Speaker Pelosi, and House Minority Leader McCarthy,

We write to strongly urge you and your colleagues in Congress to swiftly pass the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. This historic legislation makes crucial investments in energy, health care, and in shoring up the nation's tax system. These investments will fight inflation and lower costs for American families while setting the stage for strong, stable, and broadly-shared long-term economic growth.

This legislation represents the single biggest step to date in tackling the climate crisis. It makes key investments to incentivize the transition to cleaner energy sources and greater efficiency. It also invests in the current energy distribution system to make it more resilient, lowers energy costs for families, and helps protect U.S. family budgets against future shocks.

This legislation will quickly and noticeably bring down health care costs for families. It allows Medicare to negotiate lower prices with pharmaceutical companies, reduces Medicare out-of-pocket costs for drugs, and reduces insurance costs for 13 million Americans by building on provisions in the Affordable Care Act.

These investments would be more than fully paid for. The revenue raised to finance them would come exclusively from wealthy individuals and corporations. Further, the revenue stems from enhanced tax enforcement and closing some of the most distortionary loopholes in the tax code.

This proposal addresses some of the country's biggest challenges at a significant scale. And because it is deficit-reducing, it does so while putting downward pressure on inflation. We strongly recommend Congress act decisively to build a stronger economy by passing the Inflation Reduction Act as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Joseph Stiglitz, Columbia University

Robert Solow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Peter Diamond, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Oliver Hart, Harvard University

Eric Maskin, Harvard University

Edmund Phelps, Columbia University

Robert Rubin, Council on Foreign Relations

Jacob Lew, Columbia University

Jason Furman, Harvard University

Martin Neil Baily, Brookings Institution

Doug Elmendorf, Harvard Kennedy School

Roger Ferguson, TIAA (formerly)

Alan Blinder, Princeton University

Louise Sheiner, Brookings Institution

Tara Watson, Brookings Institution

Mark Paul, Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy

Matthew Rabin, Harvard Economics Department and Business School

Katharine Abraham, University of Maryland

Byron Auguste, Opportunity@Work

Brad DeLong, University of California-Berkeley

Jesse Rothstein, University of California-Berkeley

Heidi Shierholz, Economic Policy Institute

Betsey Stevenson, University of Michigan

Dean Baker, Center for Economic and Policy Research

Mark Zandi, Moody's Analytics

Josh Gotbaum, Brookings Institution

David Johnson, University of Michigan

Hilary Hoynes, University of California-Berkeley

Larry Katz, Harvard University

Karen Dynan, Harvard University

Richard Schmalensee, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Maurice Obstfeld, University of California-Berkeley

Carl Shapiro, University of California-Berkeley

William Spriggs, AFL-CIO & Howard University

Prasannan Parthasarathi, Boston College

Robert Blecker, American University

Anna Stansbury, MIT Sloan

Robert B. Williams, Guilford College

Paula Voos, Rutgers University

Emily Hoffman, Western Michigan University

Michael Reich, University of California, Berkeley

Rob Wassmer, California State University, Sacramento

Yana Rodgers, Rutgers University

Barry Bluestone, Northeastern University

Josh Bivens, Economic Policy Institute

John Schmitt , Economic Policy Institute

Juliet Schor, Boston College

Eileen Appelbaum, Center for Economic and Policy Research

Robert G. Williams, Guilford College

Barry Bosworth, Brookings Institution

Douglas Kruse, Rutgers Professor

Michael Ash, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Richard Murnane, Harvard University

Ben Zipperer, Economic Policy Institute

Janet Knoedler, Bucknell University Daron Acemoglu, MIT

Robert Murphy, Boston College

Michael Garvey, Washington Center of Equitable Growth

David Cutler, Harvard University

Lisa Lynch, Brandeis University

Robert Pollin, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Ebru Kongar, Dickinson College

Sheldon Danziger, University of Michigan

Teresa Ghilarducci, The New School

Bernard E. Anderson, University of Pennsylvania

Peter Matthews, Middlebury College

Adam Hersh, Economic Policy Institute

Alan Aja, Brooklyn College (City University of New York)

Clair Brown, University of California-Berkeley

Younghwan Song, Union College

Aaron Sojourner, Upjohn Institute for Employment Research

Krishna Dasaratha, Boston University

Larry Chimerine, Chase Econometrics and the Wefa Group (formerly)

Arindrajit Dube, UMass Amherst

Valerie Wilson, Economic Policy Institute

Carolyn Craven, Middlebury College

Chris Tilly, UCLA

John Shea, University of Maryland at College Park

Sarah Wilhelm, Western Governors University

Xavier Jaravel, London School of Economics

Jacob Robbins, University of Illinois at Chicago

Gernot Wagner, Columbia Business School

Jonathan Colmer, University of Virginia

Christopher Ruhm, University of Virginia

Joya Misra, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Peter Schaeffer, West Virginia University

Nina Banks, Bucknell University

David Weil, Brandeis University

Gail Blattenberger, University of Utah

Dania Francis, University of Massachusetts Boston

Jeannette Wicks-Lim, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Emmanuel Saez, University of California

Manuel Pastor, University of Southern California

Kate Bahn, Washington Center for Equitable Growth

Sean Reardon, Stanford University

Randy Albelda, University of Massachusetts Boston

Tim Smeeding, University of Wisconsin

Kenneth Peres, Communications Workers of America (retired)

David Alexander, Illinois Action for Children

Monique Morrissey, Economic Policy Institute

Trevon Logan, The Ohio State University

Geoffrey Schneider, Bucknell University

Kimberly Clausing, UCLA School of Law

Paulette Olson, Wright State University

Henry Levin, Emeritus Professor at Stanford and Columbia

Frank Stricker, CSU Dominguez Hills

Laura Giuliano, UC Santa Cruz

Christopher Magee, Bucknell University

Gabriel Mathy, American University

Laura Tyson, UC Berkeley

Robert M. Anderson, UC Berkeley

James Stewart, New School

Siavash Radpour, The New School for Social Research, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis

Ignacio Gonzalez, American University

Esteban J. Quiñones, Mathematica

Sylvia Allegretto, Economic Policy Institute

Rene Rosenbaum

Roger Myerson, University of Chicago

Paul Leigh, UC Davis

Lawrence Mishel, Economic Policy Institute

Robert Scott, Economic Policy Institute

Peter Eaton, UMKC

Candace Howes, Connecticut College

Gerald Epstein, University of Massachusetts Amherst

William Darity Jr., Duke University

Eva Paus, Mount Holyoke College