Today, the Wall Street Journal editorial board refers to the “economist Michael Darda.” Typically, the phrase “economist” means someone with a Ph.D. (or at least a master’s degree) in economics, but it turns out that Darda’s academic credentials consist of a degree in economics, journalism and public relations from the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater.

Similarly, the conservative pundit Stephen Moore once suggested “Brian Wesbury of Chicago, Richard Vedder of Ohio University, and David Malpass of Bear Stearns” for chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, failing to mention that Wesbury was chief economist of an investment bank in Chicago, not an economist at the University of Chicago as his phrasing suggested. Wesbury, too, lacks a Ph.D. (he has a BA in economics and an MBA).

One other example — despite having only an undergraduate degree in economics, the actor, game show host, and conservative pundit Ben Stein describes himself as “an economist” and even attacked the qualifications of Princeton economist Paul Krugman:

Last year, after [Krugman] published an encomium to the late economist James Tobin, he received a bizarre screed from actor and game-show host Ben Stein; Stein, who majored in economics in college, accused Krugman, a likely future Nobel laureate, of having a “limited background” in the field.

This is all ridiculous credential inflation. Majoring in sociology doesn’t make you a sociologist, and majoring in economics doesn’t make you an economist.