Abhijit Banerjee, 80 other Nobel laureates endorse Kamala Harris

Indian American economist Abhijit Banerjee is among more than 80 American Nobel Prize winners in physics, chemistry, medicine and economics who have signed an open letter endorsing Indian American Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

Describing it as the “most consequential presidential election in a long time, perhaps ever, for the future of science and the United States,” the Nobel laureates wrote that Vice President Harris “also recognizes the key role that immigrants have always played in the advancement of science.”

Her Republican rival former Presidential Donald Trump, on the other hand, they suggested, would undermine future US leadership and “jeopardize any advancements in our standards of living, slow the progress of science and technology, and impede our responses to climate change.”

“At no time in our nation’s history has there been a greater need for our leaders to appreciate the value of science in formulating public policy,” the Nobel laureates wrote. “The enormous increases in living standards and life expectancies over the past two centuries are largely the result of advances in science and technology.”

“Kamala Harris recognizes this and understands that maintaining America’s leadership in these fields requires budgetary support from the federal government, independent universities, and international collaboration,” they wrote.

“Harris also recognizes the key role that immigrants have always played in the advancement of science,” the Nobel winners wrote warning that “Should Donald Trump win the presidential election, he would undermine future US leadership on these and other fronts, as well as jeopardize any advancements in our standards of living, slow

the progress of science and technology, and impede our responses to climate change.”

“This is the most consequential presidential election in a long time, perhaps ever, for the future of science and the United States. We, the undersigned, strongly support Harris,” they wrote.

Banerjee, currently the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at MIT, who won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences with Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer for their work on alleviating global poverty, also joined 22 other Nobel Prize-winning economists in endorsing Harris over Trump.

The economists said Trump’s economic agenda, which includes hardline tariff proposals and a slate of aggressive tax cuts, would “lead to higher prices, larger deficits, and greater inequality.”

The economists wrote that they believe “that Kamala Harris would be a far better steward of our economy than Donald Trump.”

“While each of us has different views on the particulars of various economic policies, we believe that, overall, Harris’s economic agenda will improve our nation’s health, investment, sustainability, resilience, employment opportunities, and fairness and be vastly superior to the counterproductive economic agenda of Donald Trump,” they wrote.

READ: Kamala Harris only ‘patriotic choice’ for President: NYT (October 1, 2024)

“His policies, including high tariffs even on goods from our friends and allies and regressive tax cuts for corporations and individuals, will lead to higher prices, larger deficits, and greater inequality,” they warned.  “Among the most important determinants of economic success are the rule of law and economic and political certainty, and Trump threatens all of these.”

‘By contrast, Harris has emphasized policies that strengthen the middle class, enhance competition, and promote entrepreneurship. On issue after issue, Harris’s economic agenda will do far more than Donald Trump’s to increase the economic strength and well-being of our natio and its people.”

“Simply put, Harris’s policies will result in a stronger economic performance, with economic growth that is more robust, more sustainable, and more equitable,” the letter read.

Joseph Stiglitz, who won the Nobel Prize for his market economics research in 2001, spearheaded the joint endorsement among his fellow laureates.

Stiglitz led a similar effort to endorse President Joe Biden in June, publishing a letter signed by 16 Nobel laureates. That came just two days before the fateful presidential debate that ultimately derailed the president’s reelection bid.