
Piketty on inequality: views of the IGM economic experts
16 Oct 2014 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, discrimination, economic growth, entrepreneurship, gender, human capital, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, Marxist economics, Rawls and Nozick Tags: Daron Acemoglu, James Robinson, Piketty, poverty and inequality, The Great Enrichment
Question: The most powerful force pushing towards greater wealth inequality in the US since the 1970s is the gap between the after-tax return on capital and the economic growth rate?
Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson have a simple explanation for why Piketty is wrong:
But like Marx, Piketty goes wrong for a very simple reason. The quest for general laws of capitalism or any economic system is misguided because it is a-institutional.
It ignores that it is the institutions and the political equilibrium of a society that determine how technology evolves, how markets function, and how the gains from various different economic arrangements are distributed.
Despite his erudition, ambition, and creativity, Marx was ultimately led astray because of his disregard of institutions and politics. The same is true of Piketty.
David Friedman on Director’s law and and poverty and inequality under capitalism
13 Oct 2014 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, David Friedman, Marxist economics Tags: David Friedman, Director's Law, poverty versus inequality, That Great Enrichment

HT: Cafe Hayek
The New Zealand social welfare system is the second most targeted towards the poor in the OECD
11 Oct 2014 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, labour economics, politics - New Zealand, welfare reform Tags: welfare reform
NBER this week: Regulation and Housing Supply
06 Oct 2014 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, economics of regulation, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, land use regulation, urban economics, zoning
Deirdre McCloskey on the axiom of goodwill in public policy making in left-wing circles
06 Oct 2014 Leave a comment

Arthur Pigou on comparative institutional analysis
04 Oct 2014 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis Tags: Arthur Pigou, government failure, market failure, public choice
Comparative institutional analysis, market failure, government
The housing affordability crisis is the key driver of child poverty rates in New Zealand since the late 1980s
02 Oct 2014 Leave a comment










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