Even as an $819 billion economic stimulus bill moves forward in Congress, about 200 economists have signed an advertisement saying that it won’t work. The ad, funded by the Cato Institute, starts out with a quote from Barack Obama saying that “there is no disagreement” on the need for an economic-recovery plan. It then adds:

With all due respect Mr. President, that is not true. Notwithstanding reports that all economists are now Keynesians and that we all support a big increase in the burden of government, we the undersigned do not believe that more government spending is a way to improve economic performance. More government spending by Hoover and Roosevelt did not pull the United States economy out of the Great Depression in the 1930s. More government spending did not solve Japan’s “lost decade” in the 1990s. As such, it is a triumph of hope over experience to believe that more government spending will help the U.S. today.

 The signers include some prominent names, including those of Nobel prize winners James Buchanan, Edward Prescott and Vernon Smith. Names of St. Louis interest include:

• William Poole, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
• Michele Boldrin, David Levine and Glenn MacDonald, all of Washington University
• John Howe of the University of Missouri-Columbia
• Lawrence White of the University of Missouri-St. Louis
• R.W. Hafer of Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville
• Andrew Morriss at the University of Illinois

The ad appeared in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.