Economists and Free Market

Reader Dan sends along a link to this document (warning – pdf) by way of Greg Mankiw:

People often suppose or imply that free-market economists constitute a significant portion of all economists. We surveyed American Economic Association members and asked their views on 18 specific forms of government activism. We find that about 8 percent of AEA members can be considered supporters of free-market principles, and that less than 3 percent may be called strong upporters.

They go on to suggest reasons why Economists tend to have the reputation for being free market types, one of the big ones being that they are… relative to other social science practitioners.