Archives: July 2005

Taking a break

Posted by: Michael Mandel on July 22, Categories:

On vacation..back in August!...

Labor's falling share of the economic pie

Posted by: Michael Mandel on July 20, Categories: Income Distribution

I've got a new article about the implication of the decline in labor's share of national income across the industrialized world. Take a look at it. Here are the charts:...

Weird Pensions

Posted by: Michael Mandel on July 19, Categories: Investments

In today's WSJ, there was an article which said in part Motorola subtracts from a monthly pension payment half the amount of a retiree's monthly Social Security check. This is...

Unsolicited policy advice for the Democrats

Posted by: Michael Mandel on July 14, Categories: Political Economy

Democratic pollster Ruy Teixeira considers how the Democrats could use new ideas about the economy. He writes: 1. Those ideas should sum up clearly and simply what the party stands...

Whose Financial Crisis?

Posted by: Michael Mandel on July 13, Categories: Trade

Brad DeLong steps into my debate with Brad Setser over the impact of the trade deficit. He's worried about the possibility of a financial crisis, writing: By the end of...

Why GM is so oppressed by legacy costs

Posted by: Michael Mandel on July 13, Categories: Labor Market

I've been trying to understand why General Motors is so oppressed by legacy costs, and I think I finally have got it. Look at this table: 1985 Latest* change employment...

Unsolicited Political Advice

Posted by: Michael Mandel on July 13, Categories: Political Economy

The Democrats need to stop running against the budget deficit. Here's why. 1)Running against the budget deficit hasn't worked. Since Walter Mondale in 1984, every Democratic presidential candidate except one...

More on Wealth, Trade and Productivity

Posted by: Michael Mandel on July 12, Categories: Trade

Brad Setser disagrees with my post "Not so scary? Why national wealth matters" He has two objections. First, that the end of the global savings glut will raise interest rates...

Robert Fogel on Pessimistic Economists

Posted by: Michael Mandel on July 12, Categories: Growth

Robert Fogel, the 1993 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, has an interesting observation about the long-term historical pessimism of economists. He writes: Simon Kuznets...used to give a one-year...

Tech Labor Market Strengthens

Posted by: Michael Mandel on July 08, Categories: Tech

Today's job report gives more signs that the domestic tech labor market continues to strengthen, despite offshoring. For one, the number of domestic jobs in "computer and mathematical occupations" is...

Democrats and the Economy

Posted by: Michael Mandel on July 06, Categories: Political Economy

Steve Rose is a well-respected liberal economist who has written a fascinating essay entitled "Talking about Social Class: Are the Economic Interests of the Majority of Americans with the Democratic...

Not so scary? Why national wealth matters

Posted by: Michael Mandel on July 06, Categories: Trade

In a post called "Selling off little pieces of yourself," Brad Setser worries that the U.S. will have to auction itself off in order to pay for the $800 billion...

U.S. Businesses Are Not Overleveraged

Posted by: Michael Mandel on July 06, Categories: Investments

Interesting news from S&P: New York, July 5, 2005 - Attributing it to strong earnings and reduced corporate spending, Standard & Poor's announced today that cash and equivalent levels in...

A Crisis of Faith

Posted by: Michael Mandel on July 06, Categories: Growth

If a lot of the high-paying jobs are moving overseas, what will take their place. Edward Hugh writes: creation of jobs in high value end activities is a contingent matter,...

How Much to Spend?

Posted by: Michael Mandel on July 05, Categories: Growth

In a comment, pgl asks: In a $12 trillion per year economy, why not just commit $2 trillion a year to R&D or even more? But we are nowhere close...

The Cost and Benefits of R&D Spending

Posted by: Michael Mandel on July 05, Categories: Growth

In his latest post on Angry Bear, pgl seems to want to run a cost-benefit calculation on R&D spending: Economists are guilty, however, of wanting to weigh the prospective benefits...

R&D and the Budget Deficit

Posted by: Michael Mandel on July 01, Categories: Fiscal Policy

pgl seems quite upset with my recent posts on the difference between hairshirts and growth proponents. He seems to think that I don't understand growth theory, and he has some...

Why the Hairshirts Matter

Posted by: Michael Mandel on July 01, Categories: Growth

In response to my previous post, Mark Thoma writes the significance of the distinction between hairshirts and growth proponents in advancing our understanding of economic ideas that is clear to...