Economist busts J.D. Vance for 'selective screenshotting' to back up misleading claim

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) during Tuesday's vice presidential debate cited a purported study by the Federal Reserve to claim that immigrants were increasing the price of rent in the United States.

To back up this claim, Vance posted a screenshot on his Twitter account with the relevant excerpt from the study in question.

However, University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers caught Vance leaving out a crucial part of the story.

"Senator, it's best to avoid selective screenshotting," Wolfers wrote in response to Vance on X, formerly Twitter. "The prior paragraph (which your staff omitted), suggests that inflation has *fallen* partly due to immigration. You only screenshotted the second paragraph, which says the effect *could* go the other way."

The quote cited by Vance argued that increased immigration was one of many factors, including strong consumer demand and tight labor markets, that could leave core inflation persistently high.

ALSO READ: 'You're a mature grown-up': Trump adviser Lewandowski booted from CNN after testy exchange

However, the directly preceding paragraph contended that "much of the progress on inflation last year was due to... increases in the number of available workers, due in part to immigration," as well as factors such as improved supply chains and lower energy prices.

Wolfers also posted a link to the entire Federal Reserve report, which he emphasized "was not a study, it was not by economists, it's not really about immigration, it's also not about housing prices, and it does not make the point he claimed."