by the Kauffman Foundation. It’s not a random sample, so the results are not terribly reliable. And even if you had a reliable of sample of economists’ opinions, they might disagree on a lot of these issues. And even if they agreed, they could all be wrong.

But there are ways in which the survey reflects economists’ points of view that differ from those of others. In particular, I think we understand better than the typical citizen the role that government health care programs play in the outlook for the deficit. And I think we understand better than others that private-sector labor unions are no longer significant.