Newswise — Economic historian Robert Whaples says he and the "vast, vast majority" of his peers are more optimistic about the future than a recent poll found average Americans to be.
Whaples, who is department chair and professor of economics at Wake Forest University, even says he has come to see the field of economics not as the so-called "dismal science" but rather as the "cheerful science."
With daily headlines focused on unemployment figures, sluggish consumer spending and deflated stock market averages, on what does he base his optimism? The long view. Pull the lens back from the current troubles, he says, and you can expect a future of increasing knowledge, improving productivity and rising standards of living because the underlying drivers of these trends have not disappeared.
"The recent financial turmoil has no bearing on this long-term prediction," Whaples notes. "After all, the Great Depression didn't affect the long-term economic trend of the 20th century."
While he cannot predict when the economy will resume its long march upward, he is confident that the current situation is temporary and considers a historical perspective vital to helping people understand and weather the downturn.
A Rasmussen Poll released March 10 shows that nearly half of adults (49 percent) fear today's children will not be better off than their parents, with only 26 percent holding a more optimistic view.
"The view of economists should help cure these anxieties," Whaples contends, if people can hear that view over the current din of doomsayers.
Whaples is the former director of EH.Net, the Web site of the Economic History Service, and co-editor of the book Historical Perspectives on the American Economy and editor of The Encyclopedia of Economic and Business History. His Modern Economic Issues course, a series of 36 half-hour lectures on issues ranging from global warming and Social Security to Wal-Mart and obesity, is available on CD and DVD from The Teaching Company. His article "Do Economists Agree on Anything?" is the most frequently downloaded article published in the journal The Economists' Voice.
He is available to comment on a variety of economic issues.
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