In the Trump administration, is anything worse than economic uncertainty?

Policy uncertainty is a hobgoblin that challenges any economist or policymaker, anytime. But compared to President Trump’s now-famously quixotic style, that ordinary hobgoblin looks like a (much preferred) wimp.

In an extraordinary November 2016 presentation at a J.P. Morgan Cazenove London Conference, Bank of England official Kristin Forbes focused on the role played by uncertainty when forecasters try to identify the future direction of the economy. To be clear, uncertainty poses a challenge to all who attempt to make tomorrow’s plans. But Forbes was addressing the different choices economists must select from in order to account for uncertainty within their forecasting models. You see, there is even uncertainty about uncertainty.