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Talk:Mark Weisbrot

Latest comment: 4 days ago by SBCornelius in topic Suggesting expansion of the article
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Request for comment on works and publications

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Latest comment: 6 years ago18 comments11 people in discussion
The following discussion is an archived record of a request for comment. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion. A summary of the conclusions reached follows.
Consensus for Option 2 on the basis of WP:NOT and Option 1 being too long, though some supporting option 2 indicated that a few selected articles could be appropiate Galobtter (pingó mió) 09:27, 20 May 2018 (UTC)Reply

Should the "Works and publications" section be Option 1 or Option 2?

18:40, 13 April 2018 (UTC)

Option 3

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This option was added by DenizenGene at 04:59, 14 April 2018 (UTC) SandyGeorgia (Talk) 15:31, 14 April 2018 (UTC)Reply
Selected articles
Books

Discussion below

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  • Option 2, per WP:NOT. Wikipedia is not a webhost, a repository of links, or a means of promotion. Mr. Weisbrot's publications can be hosted on his own company's website,[1] listing his books here. An RFC is needed to resolve this because this issue has persisted here for at least eight years, and has involved meatpuppetry. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 18:42, 13 April 2018 (UTC)Reply
  • A pared Option 3 has been proposed. Reiterating support for Option 2 and further pruning. Weisbrot's company, Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), has a page which links to Weisbrot's writing; Wikipedia need not host an extensive list.[2] Looking at Option 3, the "How not to attack ... " article is already listed as a source in the article. Scorecard on Development has CEPR co-authorship and should be covered at the CEPR article. Ditto for "Logic of contested exchange". What is the inclusion criteria for this list? Why are CEPR publications included in Weisbrot article when CEPR has an article? SandyGeorgia (Talk) 15:36, 14 April 2018 (UTC)Reply
  • What is the criteria for choosing what to list? Of the six you list above, one is already used as a source in the article, several of them are not very important papers judging by how often google scholar reports they are cited by others, and those that are cited more often are CEPR papers that can be listed on the CEPR page. Could you please define how you are choosing what to list, so we won't have to keep re-visiting this topic, and explain why they should be listed here and not at CEPR? SandyGeorgia (Talk) 19:07, 14 April 2018 (UTC)Reply
  • Artists often have their discographies on their own sites and academics' university sites often host their bibliographies. As pages of these variety often have bibliographies/discographies, I think it is reasonable to apply the same model here. A selected bibliography should provide a reader an introduction and overview of an author's work, so I think that should be the aim/criteria. In order to do this, I think there would need to be the addition of a few of Weisbrot's papers about country specific economies. He seems to have done a few of these about European countries and some Latin America countries, but that part of his academic work is not represented here.
I agree that the Scorecard series of papers should be covered here and on the CEPR page as it seems to be both one of Weisbrot's more significant publications (with its multiple publications by the United Nations) and an important publication for the Center as it has involved several of their staff over the past decade. I think it would be best to avoid using citations and citations reported by a search engine as a criteria because a) a majority of academic papers are never officially cited b) Google scholar in my experience isn't the most reliable source especially for academic work published outside major journals c) Weisbrot's academic work seems to be cited more typically by media sources (e.g. papers and magazines) rather than academic journals. Since Weisbrot founded the CEPR, it would make sense that the organization would publish much of his work. I don't think there's a need to create a strong dichotomy between the organization and the person when it comes to work published. For example, the leader singer of a rock band's article would likely include songs she sung and albums she recorded with that band. Those songs and albums would also appear on the band's page. -DenizenGene (talk) 21:54, 14 April 2018 (UTC)Reply
Extended content
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
Cited by No. Article Authorship
19 The logic of contested exchange Baker and Weisbrot (Center for Economic and Policy Research-- CEPR)
80 The scorecard on development: 25 years of diminished progress Weisbrot and Baker (CEPR)
55 Ten Years After: The Lasting Impact of the Asian Financial Crisis Weisbrot (CEPR)
84 IMF-supported macroeconomic policies and the world recession: a look at forty-one borrowing countries CEPR
17 The Scorecard on Development: 1960-2010: Closing the Gap? Weisbrot, CEPR, self-cited in article
7 How Not to Attack An Economist (and An Economy): Getting the Numbers Right Cited by 7, already linked in the article
  • Option 2 - Option 1 is blatant self promotion - Just because he's a Columnist doesn't mean we should include every piece he's wrote - I could perhaps agree that a few would be fine but even then it could be seen as favouritism in some respects, Better off having just the books as that way there's arguement with what piece should and shouldn't be there. –Davey2010Talk 14:44, 23 April 2018 (UTC)Reply
  • Option 2 - summoned by bot. I don't think it's a good idea to publish links of articles. It sets a bad precedent, and is unsustainable. There are LA Times and NY Times columnists that produce two articles a week - it could get unwieldy. Instead, put a link in the external links section (which I just did) to find his articles. TimTempleton (talk) (cont) 04:46, 25 April 2018 (UTC)Reply
  • Option 2 I came here after a bot request. I thought there was a guideline about this somewhere but I do not see information about counts in Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Lists of works or elsewhere. This issue has come up 1000s of times and I know it resolves to be a short list. The longer term wiki solution to this will be that anyone can upload a full publication history, including books, academic papers, news articles, and anything else, to Wikidata. Some guidance for this is at d:Wikidata:WikiProject Source MetaData. Once there are enough citations in Wikidata then probably Wikipedia articles will contain links to lists of publications as entered in Wikidata. Blue Rasberry (talk) 13:30, 8 May 2018 (UTC)Reply
  • Option 1 It is rather interesting to read the rationale being provided for Option Dos. It would appear, on the surface, that some of these editors would prefer a minimalist approach which is rather curious considering that the purpose of the Mighty Wik is to retain and spread knowledge about the subject at hand. That being the case, why would we not want to provide access to the subject's writings and opinions? Perhaps because some of Whitebread's writings on current events have been borne to be, well, not as accurate as he may have prophesized? Hammersbach (talk) 03:40, 10 May 2018 (UTC)Reply
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Hyperinflation

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Latest comment: 6 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

Has Weisbrot given any other comments regarding the current economic crisis of Venezuela or its hyperinflation, since he saw it as an unlikely scenario? --Jamez42 (talk) 23:53, 6 May 2018 (UTC)Reply

Over-reliance on self-sourcing

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Latest comment: 5 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

I have removed yet another example of what this article already has too much of: an over-reliance on self-sourcing and too much text lacking in independent, third-party sourcing, containing original research or puffery cited to the subject himself.

For the past 20 years, Weisbrot has written and commented on the US economy, starting with his 1999 book,  Social Security:  The Phony Crisis (see Works & Publications, here below).  He has also written extensively on the state of the US labor market[1], and other topics relating to the US welfare state, and addressed domestic issues on programs such as C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal”[2] and American Public Media’s "Marketplace".[3]

The book is already covered elsewhere in the article. ORIGINAL RESEARCH and puffery cited to self: "for the past 20 years", "extensively". Not a single third-party, independent discussion of his positions on these self-cited views.

Here are more examples:

1. NO THIRD PARTY SOURCE, no context, no reason given to the reader for this mention. Weisbrot co-authors with CEPR a series of papers looking at the progress in economic growth and social indicators. In 2017, he presented the most recent report, which emphasized the role of China, with economist Jeffrey Sachs in Washington, DC.[4]

2. SELF-SOURCED, ORIGINAL RESEARCH. Weisbrot has continued to suggest that the founding of other alternative lending and finance institutions that do not include participation by the U.S., such as those being created by the BRICS countries, may have positive implications both for borrowing countries and in terms of weakening the influence of Washington-based institutions like the IMF.[5]

3. Entire paragraph self-cited, no independent, third-party discussion of these views or context as to why this is included. Weisbrot has argued that, from 2003 to 2011, Brazil was successful in reducing poverty and inequality, and increasing GDP growth.[6] Weisbrot attributed these successes in part to policy changes that were an improvement over the neoliberal program Brazil adopted in the 1980s. However, he was critical of austerity and high interest rates after 2010, arguing that these were unnecessary and led to a prolonged recession. Weisbrot argued against the impeachment of former Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff in 2016 and the corruption conviction of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2018, pointing to a lack of precedent and evidence to justify the proceedings.[7]

Similar occurs throughout-- these are samples only. It is appropriate to self-cite a bio with respect to things like where the subject was born and when, where he went to school, etc. It is not appropriate to self-cite for puffery. Please stop adding text based on what Weisbrot and CEPR say about Weisbrot, and seek out what independent, third-party sources say about Weisbrot on each topic. Regards, SandyGeorgia (Talk) 13:02, 25 August 2018 (UTC) Reply

References

  1. ^ Weisbrot, Mark (2010-09-17). "More Stimulus Badly Needed to Create Jobs". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-08-21.
  2. ^ "Washington Journal: Aparna Mathur & Mark Weisbrot Discuss State of the U.S. Economy". C-SPAN.org. Retrieved 2018-08-21.
  3. ^ "Is it the economy, stupid?". www.marketplace.org. Retrieved 2018-08-21.
  4. ^ CEPR. "Scorecard Series". cepr.net. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
  5. ^ Weisbrot, Mark (18 July 2014). "Opinion: BRICS' new financial institutions could undermine US-EU global dominance". Al Jazeera America.
  6. ^ Weisbrot, Mark, Jake Johnston, and Stephan Lefebvre (2014). "The Brazilian Economy in Transition: Macroeconomic Policy, Labor and Inequality" (PDF). www.cepr.net. Retrieved February 14, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ Weisbrot, Mark (2018). "Opinion | Brazil's Democracy Pushed Into the Abyss". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-02-15.

birth year/age

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Latest comment: 4 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

What's with the <!--Please do not display age per BLP--> and the missing date of birth? That is not not common practice, that is we do give the date of birth (or at least they year) if it is publicly documented/known. So why is is it not the case here? Is there special conflict or administrational decision not to provide it?--Kmhkmh (talk) 06:33, 18 November 2019 (UTC)Reply

Suggesting expansion of the article

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Latest comment: 4 days ago5 comments2 people in discussion

Hello, I've added a COI tag and would like to suggest improvements to the article. It is currently incomplete in that some sections have not been kept current, and the information presented is true but not an accurate reflection of the subject's subsequent or current positions.

The article is also incomplete because it focuses on policy around Latin America almost exclusively and neglects work on Europe and Asia. The current subheadings under Economics Career are:

Globalization
Latin America
Venezuela
South of the Border
Columns
Books

I would like to suggest the following header structure for new sections that would make the article more encyclopedic and complete.

Globalization
Latin America
Venezuela
South of the Border
Europe
European Economic Crisis
Greece
Asia
Columns
Books

Below, I have included proposed text and citations for the new sections. Thank you and I welcome any feedback.

Latin America

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Weisbrot in 2017

Weisbrot has written and co-authored research papers and articles on the economies and politics of Latin America and the Caribbean for the past two decades. The countries covered include Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, and Venezuela. Beginning in 2001, Weisbrot challenged the prevailing consensus on the 1998–2002 Argentine great depression, arguing that IMF-supported austerity was counter-productive and that the country needed to devalue its currency in order to recover. After the Argentine government defaulted on its debt at the end of 2001 and allowed the currency to float against the dollar at the beginning of 2002, Weisbrot continued to argue against what he called harmful attempts by the IMF to influence policy in the post-default period.[1]

He later wrote papers arguing that Argentina's policies in the 2002-2011 period, after its default and separation from the IMF, were successful.

Weisbrot has argued that, from 2003 to 2011, Brazil was successful in reducing poverty and inequality and increasing GDP growth.[2]

Weisbrot attributed these successes in part to policy changes that were an improvement over the neoliberal program Brazil adopted in the 1980s. However, he was critical of austerity and high interest rates after 2010, arguing that these were unnecessary and led to a prolonged recession. Weisbrot argued against the impeachment of former Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff in 2016 and the corruption conviction of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2018, pointing to a lack of precedent and evidence to justify the proceedings.[3] In a 2019 report on the IMF program for Ecuador, Weisbrot found that the program was not likely to prevent continuing recession or reduce unemployment.[4][5]

Venezuela

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Articles in The New York Times,[6]USA Today,[7] and The Washington Post[8] described Weisbrot as supportive of some of the policies implemented during Hugo Chávez's presidency. In a 2016 National Review article about Venezuela's deterioration following the Bolivarian Revolution, José Cárdenas described Weisbrot as one of the "leftist admirers of Venezuela" and an "ardent cheerleader" of Chávez's policies.[9]

In 2013, Weisbrot praised the Venezuelan government for its gains in poverty, real income, employment, healthcare, and education, and said that the possibility of hyperinflation was "very remote", that economic problems were "not likely" and that "Venezuela has sufficient reserves".[10]

A 2019 report by Weisbrot and Jeffrey Sachs said that a 31% rise in the number of deaths between 2017 and 2018 was due to the sanctions imposed on Venezuela in 2017, and that 40,000 people in Venezuela may have died as a result.[11] The report states: "The sanctions are depriving Venezuelans of lifesaving medicines, medical equipment, food, and other essential imports."[11] Weisbrot stated that he "could not prove those excess deaths were the result of sanctions, but said the increase ran parallel to the imposition of the measures and an attendant fall in oil production".[11]

A US State Department spokesperson said that, "as the writers themselves concede, the report is based on speculation and conjecture"[11] while Harvard economist Ricardo Hausmann, representative to the Inter-American Development Bank by the US-supported administration of Juan Guaidó,[12] said that the analysis was flawed because it made invalid assumptions about Venezuela based on a different country, Colombia, that the analysis failed to rule out other explanations and that it failed to correctly account for PDVSA finances.[13]

South of the Border
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Weisbrot was an advisor,[14]and co-wrote with Tariq Ali the screenplay for the Oliver Stone's 2009 film, South of the Border,[15] which examined the "pink tide" of elected leftist governments in South America.

Weisbrot disagreed with Larry Rohter, the former South American bureau chief of The New York Times, over his statements on Venezuela, where Rohter said that in support of the film South of the Border, Weisbrot, Tariq Ali, and Oliver Stone manipulated data to present a positive image of Hugo Chávez.[16]

Rohter described Weisbrot as "... an economist, not a historian, and apparently not a very good one", suggesting that he was "Either ... incompetent [or] deliberately manipulating the numbers."[16] Weisbrot contested the claims of inaccuracies, suggesting that they are indicative of sloppy and misleading coverage of Venezuela in the popular press and saying that "the way most Americans get the idea that Venezuela is a dictatorship, for example, is from these editorials".[17]

Europe

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European Economic Crisis

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Weisbrot contends that the Great Recession had more impact on EU countries than it did in the United States and that Europe was hit by a secondary recession when the U.S. was not, due to Europe's lack of a sufficient monetary policy response, insistence on austerity measures, and the use of the crisis to advance a political agenda. [18] Weisbrot claims that the European Central Bank is less accountable to EU citizens than the Federal Reserve in the United States and was unable or unwilling to replicate the Fed's recover measures of quantitative easing and a prolonged 0% interest rate. [19] Additionally, he blames Europe's slow recovery from the crisis on austerity-focused policies that reduced government spending, cut pensions, and weaken labor protections,[20] stating that many countries could have shortened the period of economic decline and recovery be leaving the Eurozone.[21]

Weisbrot makes the case that the EU and the European Monetary Union are ideologically different organizations, with the more conservative EMU subjecting low-income member countries to the same policies the IMF has imposed outside of Europe. [22]

Greece
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In 2011, Weisbrot was critical of the Troika (European group) and the IMF, claiming that the former had placed constraints on the Greek economy that caused continual loss of GDP and that the IMF's demands for austerity would make recovery difficult. [23] Weisbrot advocated for the restructuring of Greece's debt as a better path forward than imposing austerity measures. He also advocated for the position that the European Central Bank undertake quantitative easing, citing the success of the Federal Reserve's actions in the United States. [24] Weisbrot also predicted that an economic recovery in Greece would be accelerated if Greece abandoned the Euro to avoid punitive measure attached to EU loans,[25] claiming that reducing government spending during recessionary periods is not an effective means of creating the economic growth necessary to end a recession.[26]

Asia

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Weisbrot states that although the Asian economic crisis was precipitated by the sudden reversal of international capital flows, Asian economies were made vulnerable to such reversals by economic liberalization that was encouraged by the IMF. Additionally, Weisbrot claims that the crisis was exacerbated by the IMF's failure to act as a lender of last resort. [27][28]

The economist also claims that the IMF's insistence on structural reforms were not directly related to the crisis but contributed to the severity and length of the crisis. [29] SBCornelius (talk) 18:52, 24 June 2024 (UTC)Reply

Thanks for your suggestions. It will take time to go through the suggested changes. I looked through the first section on Latin America. Afaict the only change is an addition of one sentence at the end, namely:
In a 2019 report on the IMF program for Ecuador, Weisbrot found that the program was not likely to prevent continuing recession or reduce unemployment.
A few points:
  • Is there a non-blog secondary source for this sentence? While the sugggested addition is not controversial, the two sources you have used are both blogs which some editors may consider inappropriate for a BLP.
  • The report mentioned is by Mark Weisbrot and Andrés Arauz from the CEPR
Burrobert (talk) 05:01, 25 June 2024 (UTC)Reply
I have incorporated the Venezuela and South of the Border sub-sections into the Latin America section as you suggested. You did not suggest any changes to the wording of either sub-section. Burrobert (talk) 13:26, 25 June 2024 (UTC)Reply
Regarding the Europe and Asia sections, the sources you have used are all primary sources written by Weisbrot. Are there any secondary sources that discuss his work in these areas? Burrobert (talk) 10:01, 26 June 2024 (UTC)Reply
Hi @Burrobert, thanks for the feedback. I'll take some time and dig back into my research and get back to you with alternative citations if possible. Thanks again for the help. SBCornelius (talk) 19:05, 1 July 2024 (UTC)Reply

References

  1. ^ Rohter, Larry (26 December 2004). "Argentina's Economic Rally Defies Forecasts". The New York Times.
  2. ^ Weisbrot, Mark, Jake Johnston, and Stephan Lefebvre (2014). "The Brazilian Economy in Transition: Macroeconomic Policy, Labor and Inequality" (PDF). www.cepr.net. Retrieved February 14, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Weisbrot, Mark (2018). "Opinion | Brazil's Democracy Pushed Into the Abyss". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-02-15.
  4. ^ https://nakedkeynesianism.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-imf-program-in-ecuador-new-report.html
  5. ^ https://sharing.org/information-centre/blogs/imf-hurting-countries-it-claims-help
  6. ^ Romero, Simon (May 18, 2008). "Chávez Seizes Greater Economic Power". The New York Times. Retrieved January 23, 2010. Mark Weisbrot, a Washington-based economist who is broadly supportive of Mr. Chávez's economic policies, ...
  7. ^ "Polls: Support for Chavez government falling". USA Today. March 18, 2008. Retrieved January 26, 2010. ... Weisbrot, who has supported Chavez's policies.
  8. ^ Forero, Juan and Peter S. Goodman (23 February 2007). "Chávez Builds His Sphere Of Influence". The Washington Post. Retrieved 15 March 2018. Some analysts supportive of Chávez's policies, like Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington ...
  9. ^ Cárdenas, José (18 May 2016). "In Venezuela, Socialism Is Killing Venezuelans". National Review.
  10. ^ Weisbrot, Mark. Sorry, Venezuela haters: this economy is not the Greece of Latin America. Guardian, 7 November 2013. Retrieved on 14 March 2018.
  11. ^ a b c d Buncombe, Andrew (26 April 2019). "US sanctions on Venezuela responsible for 'tens of thousands' of deaths, claims new report". The Independent. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  12. ^ "Venezuela's Guiado pushes to name new representative to regional lender". Reuters. 4 March 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  13. ^ Hausmann, Ricardo and Frank Muci (2 May 2019). "Don't blame Washington for Venezuela's oil woes: rebuttal". Americas Quarterly. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  14. ^ "Chavez gets red-carpet treatment in Venice". Today Show. Associated Press. 7 September 2009. Archived from the original on 17 September 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  15. ^ Gilsdorf, Ethan (October 1, 2010). "Movie Review: South of the Border". The Boston Globe. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
  16. ^ a b Rohter, Larry (26 July 2010). "Oliver Stone Still Doesn't Get It". History News Network.
  17. ^ Weisbrot, Mark; Serwer, Adam (16 July 2010). "Adam Serwer on DOJ/New Black Panthers, Mark Weisbrot on South of the Border" (Includes audio). CounterSpin, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting.
  18. ^ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/16/why-the-european-economy-is-worse
  19. ^ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/16/why-the-european-economy-is-worse
  20. ^ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/16/why-the-european-economy-is-worse
  21. ^ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/mar/25/greece-euro-economy
  22. ^ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/jul/11/eurozone-crisis-euro-monetary-union
  23. ^ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/sep/27/eurozone-crisis-debt-policy
  24. ^ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/sep/27/eurozone-crisis-debt-policy
  25. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/10/opinion/10weisbrot.html
  26. ^ https://cepr.net/report/more-pain-no-gain-for-greece/
  27. ^ https://cepr.net/documents/publications/asia_crisis_2007_08.pdf
  28. ^ https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-may-29-me-54395-story.html
  29. ^ https://cepr.net/imf-cure-worse-than-the-disease/
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