Kieth N. Hylton is William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor at Boston University School of Law.
The last time I saw Fred McChesney was at a conference at Notre Dame where we both spoke, three years ago. We laughed heartily about how the stock market fools political observers. When a presidential candidate who will do terrible things to the economy is running, the stock market will tank as he appears to gain credibility as a successor, leading journalists and voters to blame the incumbent president for the market fall. As a result, support quickly snowballs in favor of the economy-killing candidate, who wins handily. As the economy-killing president nears the end of his term, the stock market then soars in anticipation of better fiscal management in the future, leading observers to conclude that the economy killer was very good for the economy after all – how else could he have left us with such a soaring stock market on his way out? This was the sort of joke Fred could be expected to tell, and reflects the sort of thinking that Fred devoted his career to trying to correct. He will be missed.
