14
My friend Matt Bruenig does consistently great stuff, but I have to object to his recent critique of the idea of a Job Guarantee (often called the government as an Employer of Last Resort, or ‘ELR’). I want to walk … Continue reading
Category Archives: Labor Market
Now those responsible for the death of Freddie Gray have been charged, but all is still far from right with the world. The process could easily drag out for a good while and culminate unsatisfactorily. The local liberal-Democratic political establishment has … Continue reading
My comrade the Sandwichman traces the sad devolution of thinking about public investment in the U.S. Check out the signatories to the letter at the top: Henry Wallace, Frances Perkins, Harry Hopkins, Harold Ickes, Wesley Mitchell. Giants! How did we get stuck … Continue reading
Jacobin magazine’s Seth Ackerman picks up his favorite chew toy, Matthew Yglesias of Vox, doing the economics of the minimum wage. To be clear at the outset, I think it’s perfectly fine for Yggy to take on diverse topics in … Continue reading
Just to prove I don’t plan to dog Hillary at every turn, I’ll stick up for her remark on the un-centrality of business firms in creating jobs. Republicans would like to turn it into another “you didn’t build that” moment, which … Continue reading
The excellent Annie Lowrey in New York Magazine argues that Amazon is not a monopoly. I disagree. Or at least, I have to say the premise is not supported quantitatively. The problem is the denominator. Monopoly resides in market share. AL compares Amazon … Continue reading
First Friday of every month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases data on the previous month’s state of the labor market. The ‘headline number’ is 209,000 net new jobs. This year the numbers of net new jobs have looked good … Continue reading
Stephen Moore of the Heritage Foundation reports data “for the past five years” on July 10, 2014, which past five year period apparently refers to 2007 to 2012. Which reminds me of this bold fresh piece of econometric analysis, provided … Continue reading
The election of John McCain or Mitt Romney would have been a disaster. The election of Barack Obama, for whom I voted in both the primary and two general elections, has been a disaster of lesser order. A valid criterion for … Continue reading
First in a series. I’m reading his intermediate macro textbook (fourth edition). Cost me ten bucks (including shipping). It is somewhat of a novelty among intermediate texts because he adheres to a “Real Business Cycle” (RBC) perspective. SDW blogs here. … Continue reading