Why Is the White House Challenging the Penn Wharton Budget Model?
The White House, via the Council of Economic Advisors, has taken issue with the economic analysis of President Trump’s infrastructure plan by the Penn Wharton Budget Model (PWBM), suggesting that the model is flawed in fundamental ways that make its conclusions wrong. The White House contends PWBM’s authors “do not model the Administration’s actual infrastructure proposal.” The White House also argues that “the authors’ choice of parameter values is outdated” and is “not transparent.” The PWBM rebuts those criticisms in the following opinion piece, arguing that the White House is wrong on each major point of its critique.