Two Harvard Nobel Laureates Sign Letter Endorsing Hillary Clinton

Twenty Nobel laureates in the field of economics, including two Harvard professors, have signed a letter endorsing Democratic nominee Hillary R. Clinton for the presidency. The letter, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, was published online Monday.

Harvard signatories included economics professors Oliver Hart, who recently won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his work on contract theory, and Eric Maskin, who jointly won the Nobel in 2007 for his development of a mechanism design theory.

Both Hart and Maskin said they signed the letter because they felt some “responsibility” to do so as Nobel laureates.

“Four weeks ago, nobody paid any attention to me,” Hart said, referring to his Nobel Prize notification in October. “Now suddenly people are going to listen. I feel like I have some responsibility to say something when the situation is this serious.”

The letter praised Clinton’s record of public service and proposed policies while condemning Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump’s lack of experience and “incoherent economic agenda.”

“We have decided to sign this letter jointly to express our shared judgments that Hillary Clinton is eminently qualified to serves as President, and Donald Trump is unfit for office,” the signatories wrote. “In this election, the choice is clear.”

Though he does not agree with all of Clinton’s policies, Hart said he believes she will make a good president because she is a “serious person” who is likely to examine the evidence and listen to her advisers. He said he thought that, unlike Trump, Clinton can control her emotions and think critically.

Maskin, too, said he believes Clinton would make a “fine president” if elected. He added that Trump’s “dreadfulness” as a candidate made the choice, and his decision to sign the letter, straightforward.

According to Maskin, economists across the country share his sentiments. He said this widespread support for one party’s presidential candidate is unprecedented in his experience.

“This is the first time I haven’t run into a single professional economist, or at least a serious one, who supports the Republican nominee,” he said. “Not a single one. That’s never happened before.”

Stanford emeritus professor of finance William F. Sharpe, a signatory of the letter and recipient of the 1990 Nobel Prize, said the election marked a personal break with precedent.

“In general I would not take a position publicly in a presidential election,” he said. “But this is a case where the opposition is so egregious that it’s kind of an easy call.”

—Staff writer Hannah Natanson can be reached at hannah.natanson@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @hannah_natanson.