I have grouped American Republicans with British Conservatives because their way of thinking about the economy is similar, in the sense that they share a liberal economic heritage that is distinct from the more Christian tradition of the centre right in France, Germany and Denmark. Transatlantic links between economists and politicians are strong. Both Republicans and Conservative interviewees see the period of the Reagan and Thatcher governments as important watersheds in the movement from Keynesian to more market-conforming approaches. They confirm the judgement in much of the literature that market-conforming ideas have been more dominant in the “Anglosphere” than in continental Europe. First, I set out what the Republican interviewees say about their economic thinking and respect for economists, followed by the Conservatives. Surprisingly, given that their countries are home to neoclassical economics, they share a dismissive attitude to economists. But their reasons for being dismissive are different.

Republican context

Donald Trump was elected US president in 2016 despite many economists warning that he did not have a credible economic platform. He ended up violating sacrosanct economic principles of the Republican Party, such as free trade and balanced budgets, before his economic programme was derailed by the pandemic. I worked very hard to find Republican interviewees who wholeheartedly supported his economic policies, but most, even if they had never publicly opposed him, did not support his increased borrowing and/ or trade policies. Whether publicly for or against Trump, they saw him as a big economic departure for their party and were waiting to see what would happen next.