America’s middle class was first built upon an unsustainable combination of low-productivity, high-wage jobs in large factories. The second half of the 20th century saw a different middle class emerge, with workers across many industries applying high-value-added human capital to the production of goods and increasingly services.
The big lesson on research and data about poverty is the limited effectiveness of public policy. For healthy people in long-term poverty, nearly all have made at least one of the big three mistakes: quitting high school, using drugs or having kids without a partner.
No economic facts are likely to steer the policy debate away from income inequality. This is mostly because today’s discussion is simply a convenient way to change the subject from other policy failures.
There are many causes to income inequality, most significantly that labor markets value different skills in different ways.
At the Philadelphia meeting of the American Economic Association, economist Charles Plosser argued that the continued quantitative easing should be quickly reduced.
The U.S. economy is not a system; it is a series of markets that by their very nature cannot be organized. The People’s Republic of Korea is the contemporary bastion of economic systems; North Korea is the most centrally planned state of modern times.
The Federal Reserve’s recent decision to ease efforts to stimulate the economy were widely expected. What was unexpected about the announcement was just how minimal the changes were.
Attractive regions will attract households with greater location choices. These households will inevitably be better educated and command a higher income. However, all things being equal, workers in these places will not require quite as high a wage to live in these places as they would to live in a less-desirable place.
Over the past few weeks, the research center in which I work published three studies evaluating the role of economic development programs in Indiana. The results held surprises and some not-so-surprising findings.
Over the next couple of weeks, I will be traveling to many of Indiana’s cities to explain my 2014 economic forecast. I will tell audiences that the national economy will perform poorly, and that we will not return to pre-recession employment numbers this year.
In 1940, vibrant cities had big factories, rail yards and lots of associated workers. In 2010, vibrant cities had lots of people in many occupations whose product is mostly consumed locally. This doesn’t mean there aren’t a few fantastic towns with factories, but it is the vibrant town that ultimately makes the difference.
I have written that the marriage amendment is a poor use of our legislators’ time, but I believe we should have an honest discussion about the matter.
At first blush, 200,000 new jobs noted in the latest jobs report would be welcomed news, as it is almost half the number of jobs we need each month to return labor markets to normalcy by the end of the decade. Alas, the Department of Labor publishes much more detailed data, and in that lurk dark shadows of a still-stagnant economy.
Veterans of our large wars have returned to remake the world. The more recent wars have been fought by a mix of regular and citizen soldiers, and so I believe will leave a lasting mark on our nation.
Thank the government for a subpar outlook, Indiana University economists said prior to kicking off their annual forecast road show Wednesday morning in Indianapolis.
Much of the rhetoric about the costs and benefits of the minimum wage is pure bunk. Life as an adult minimum-wage worker is tough, but not because of salaries.
It is far too early to call the rollout of the Affordable Care Act a failure; most new programs have rocky starts. But this one has most of the signs of inevitable failure. If the situation doesn’t remedy itself quickly, the complete redo of the law will be hastened considerably.
Indiana finished 35th among states on the report's Opportunity Index, mostly because of a subpar score in education. The percentage of Hoosiers ages 16-24 not in school or not working mirrored the national average of nearly 15 percent.
The first slowdown seems to have been at least partially remedied by the Federal Reserve’s massive purchase of assets known as quantitative easing, the most recent of which was accompanied by a marked short-term improvement in the economy. That improvement seems to have run its course.
Voters’ expressing only anger and frustration over D.C. politics simply won’t do. It is intellectually lazy, cowardly and un-American to wish that everyone should settle their argument like this is a school playground.
