The Business Roundtable, a prestigious organisation of the CEOs of the largest American companies, last week urged large public companies to stop telling investors what senior executives expect quarterly earnings will be. Their effort arises from the widespread belief that the scourge of market-driven short-termism is seriously damaging the American economy. Ending this quarterly earnings advice would help. Respected business leaders like Jamie Dimon and Warren Buffett have promoted the idea under the headline that “Short-Termism is Harming the Economy”.

The advice on forgoing advance projections of quarterly earnings is sensible as such efforts largely waste managerial time—the earnings will be announced soon enough. But the thinking behind the advice, that market-driven short-termism is seriously harming the American economy, is unsound. Critiquing short-termism is now an idea whose time has come and, for many, its severity is so obvious that the idea needs no support. Like the recent attacks on open trade, basic marketplace advantages do not seem as advantageous, even to market leaders like the Business Roundtable, as they once did.

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