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Some of the country's most prominent economists have signed a letter warning that Donald Trump is a "dangerous, destructive" choice for president and urging voters to choose someone else.

 was signed by 370 economists, including eight Nobel Prize winners.


The text stops short of endorsing Democrat Hillary Clinton, though, and doesn't criticize Trump on ideological grounds. Instead, it says he has made repeated statements aimed at misleading the public about jobs and growth:

Among other things, Trump has told voters that renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement or imposing tariffs on China would increase manufacturing jobs, the letter says.

"In fact, manufacturing's share of employment has been declining since the 1970s and is mostly related to automation, not trade," it says.

Trump has "lowered the seriousness of the national dialogue" by saying that the deficit can be reduced by eliminating government agencies such as the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency.

"A credible solution will require an increase in tax revenue and/or a reduction in spending on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, or Defense," it says.

The Republican presidential candidate has also falsely claimed that the United States is one of the most heavily taxed countries in the world, the letter says. It added:

Those signing the letter say they "represent a broad variety of areas of expertise." They include Nobel winners such as Angus Deaton of Princeton, Oliver Hart and Eric Maskin of Harvard and Kenneth J. Arrow of Stanford, as well as many other prominent academics.

 endorsing Clinton and signed by 19 Nobel laureates was released earlier this week.


One of Trump's senior economic advisers, Peter Navarro of the University of California, Irvine, said in an email to NPR that the letter is "an embarrassment to the corporate offshoring wing of the economist profession who continues to insist bad trade deals are good for America."

Business and Economic News

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Election 2016

Jim Zarroli

Author

A letter from 370 economists, including eight Nobel Prize winners, says the Republican presidential candidate has misled the country about trade, jobs and growth.

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