Obama economist hopes Harris doesn't actually implement her policies: 'There’s no upside here, and there is some downside'

An Obama-era economist reviewed new policy proposals by Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and said that he hopes they never come to fruition.

Harvard economist Jason Furman told the New York Times that her policies just don't make sense.

'There’s no upside here, and there is some downside.'

The Harris campaign released details of its economic plan on Wednesday that included price controls. At the top of the list was a federal ban on "price gouging" in groceries and food. The Times report noted that price controls are popular with voters in swing states and among progressives but opposed by most economists.

Among those are Furman, who said price controls had zero positive value.

“This is not sensible policy, and I think the biggest hope is that it ends up being a lot of rhetoric and no reality,” he told the Times. “There’s no upside here, and there is some downside.”

Furman also explained why grocery prices increasing isn't necessarily evidence of price gouging and price controls would prevent the market from increasing production to combat high prices.

“Egg prices went up last year — it’s because there weren’t as many eggs, and it caused more egg production,” he said.

Egg prices have dropped since the surge last year.

Harris argued in the press release that consolidation among meat production companies had led to less competition and artificially increased prices. But, when the Times reached out to the campaign to explain how their policies would ease the situation, they did not immediately respond to the request.

The campaign is facing increasing pressure and scrutiny over its refusal to take questions from the media.

Others criticized the economic policies by comparing them to those of former President Jimmy Carter in the 1970s. High inflation and unemployment eventually led to Carter's defeat by Ronald Reagan and ushered in a decade of conservative control of the government.

"As Vice President, Kamala Harris delivered the worst inflation in a generation. Now she promises to fix the mess she created with price controls? She truly is a far-left San Francisco socialist," responded Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas.

This isn't the first time Furman has tossed cold water on Democratic economic policies.

In December 2021, he noted publicly that although wages had increased since President Joe Biden had taken office, inflation had eaten up all of those gains and compensation was therefore lower than it had been in 2019.

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