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Larry Kudlow Again Discredits Jobless Workers, Gets Slammed For Misreading Study

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Friday again trotted out the Trump administration story that American workers would like nothing better than to sit at home collecting unemployment benefits. He even cited an academic study to back him up — except he completely “misinterpreted” the research, according to the lead author of the study.

Kudlow repeated on CNN the administration’s attack on continuing the $600 a week extra unemployment benefit for American workers that expired last month. He argued that the money is a disincentive to work, refusing to recognize that the number of available jobs for the newly unemployed has dramatically shrunk amid the COVID-19 crisis, which prompted the stimulus measure in the first place.

“What evidence do you have?” CNN host Poppy Harlow asked Kudlow.

“What evidence?” asked an exasperated Kudlow, who cited a University of Chicago study.

“But, Larry, the University of Chicago survey, it doesn’t conclude what you’re arguing,” Harlow said, adding that she’d talked to the study’s lead author, Peter Ganong, who told her it was a “mistake to draw the conclusion as you have been and the White House has been that right now it’s a disincentive to go back to work.”

Ganong has estimated that without some enhanced unemployment benefits, aggregate spending could fall 4.3% — a steeper economic decline than during the Great Recession.

“Well, look, whoever that chap is, he or she .... we can argue one academic versus another,” Kudlow responded. Harlow reminded him: “You brought up the University of Chicago” study.

She added: “You’ve read the study, right?” Kudlow insisted that he’s “seen the work.” He then named an economist from the University of Chicago who had nothing to do with the study.

Study researcher Ganong responded to the interview on Twitter, noting that Kudlow never cited another study — nor challenged the study’s findings.

In fact, none of the recent five studies of the enhanced unemployment benefits support the administration’s claims. Evidence shows the extra money has kept many families out of poverty during the COVID-19 crisis and created a stimulus to the economy as people spend the much-needed funds.

The University of Chicago study in May found that in some cases workers were collecting more in enhanced unemployment benefits than they had been earning. But payments likely won’t create a disincentive to work “until the public health threat diminishes and businesses again look to hire,” the study noted.

When Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin earlier this month claimed the study found that enhanced benefits discouraged work, Ganong instantly tweeted: “That is not what we find.”

A Yale study released early this month concluded that there is “no evidence” that enhanced unemployment benefits have decreased employment. People who were collecting enhanced benefits actually resumed working at a similar and even quicker rate than others who were not eligible for the extra aid once work was available, according to the study, “Employment Effects of Unemployment Insurance Generosity During the Pandemic.”

Ganong praised Harlow on Friday for taking the time to learn the facts of the study and to explain to Kudlow how he had “misinterpreted” the findings.

Harlow also reminded Kudlow that American workers take pride in their work.

She then called Kudlow out for all the times he has been wrong about the economy and the pandemic, including in February when he declared COVID-19 containment was “pretty close to airtight.”

Kudlow responded: “I kind of resent your little nitpicking here.”

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.