The role of lax antitrust enforcement and the resulting rise in oligopolies is sorely neglected in most analyses of the rise of inequality and America’s flagging competitiveness.
Read more...Not only do the long-term unemployed suffer the loss of income, but they often are in worse health. They show markedly higher rates of obesity, elevated cholesterol levels, and high blood pressure.
Read more...Under a fiat currency regime, policymakers need to rethink what they tax and why.
Read more...Adam Smith’s pin factory is more a charming tale than a representative of early industrialization or contemporary pin making.
Read more...Yves here. As a finance person, I can’t readily relate to the distinction the author makes between money once being seen as something tangible and it now being widely regarded as a mechanism for facilitating commerce. Nevertheless, I believe this post will resonate with many readers and thus I believe it will make for useful grist for discussion.
Read more...Believing that existing wealth defines and “finances” what we can accomplish as a collective nation going forward, however, makes solutions not just difficult but impossible.
Read more...Libertarians are profoundly anti-democratic. The folks at Cato that I debate make no bones about their disdain for and fear of democracy. Friedrich von Hayek is so popular among libertarians because of his denial of the legitimacy of democratic government and his claims that it is inherently monstrous and murderous to its own citizens.
Read more...Thomas Piketty’s new book has been widely praised for its empirical contribution, but his prediction of rising inequality rests on economic theory. This column argues that Piketty’s pessimistic forecast is based on an extreme – and unrealistic – assumption about households’ saving behaviour. According to standard theory, the wealth–income ratio would increase only modestly as growth falls, so declining growth would not be a powerful force for generating high inequality.
Read more...David Cay Johnston is a clear and lively conversationalist, and I anticipate readers will enjoy his discussion of his work over the last 20 years on inequality.
Read more...Deflation proves that austerity policies are failing, but the media is doing a remarkable job of keeping readers confused and ignorant.
Read more...The ECB is expected to cross a Rubicon today by implementing negative deposit rates. What is the impact likely to be?
Read more...A good discussion of why the weak economic recovery has only helped those at the very top, and why economists who know better continue to enable that.
Read more...How the Fed has gotten itself caught in its own underwear by ignoring Hyman Minsky and in persisting in the clearly failed strategy of super lax monetary policy rather than calling for more government spending.
Read more...Why it is ludicrous to expect the unemployed to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
Read more...The Piketty postulate that r > g, meaning the return on wealth exceeds overall economic growth, is simply not a universal truth. This post provides a tidy and accessible debunking.
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