HT: Matt Bruenig
Poverty rates in two-earner families in the USA
19 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality, welfare reform Tags: asymmetric marriage premium, child poverty, family poverty
HT: Matt Bruenig
@James_ARobins yet another @MaxRashbrooke #inequality fact check
17 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economic growth, economic history, labour economics, poverty and inequality, unemployment Tags: antimarket bias, pessimism bias, rational irrationality, The Great Enrichment, top 1%
Source: Do inequality and poverty matter? | Pundit – Brian Easton (2016) .
I will outsource to Brian Easton, the CTU, the CTU’s Bill Rosenberg and Closer Together Whakatata Mai – reducing inequalities because the continual correction of Max Rashbrooke on poverty and inequality is becoming tiring.
Source: Love in the time of crisis, James Robins, Wednesday, 16 March 2016, Newstalk NZ.
A brief history of inequality-from Treasury paper Fig4. Note Employment Contracts Act,GST,income tax,benefit cuts,WFF http://t.co/y4w3cUsgjD—
Bill Rosenberg (@WJRosenbergCTU) June 27, 2015
Inequality has not risen for at least 20 years as Bill Rosenberg tweeted. The rise in inequality in the late 1980s and early 1990s was followed by an employment boom that lasted to 2009.
Unemployment was as low as 3 1/2% for several years despite a large increase in labour force participation. Furthermore, the gender wage gap in New Zealand fell rapidly to now be the smallest in any industrialised country.
As the Facebook photos show, there has been strong income and wage growth despite the grizzling of the left. The return of income growth and wages growth after 20 years of real wage stagnation followed the economic reforms of the 1980s and the passage of the Employment Contracts Act in 1991.
As the CTU shows below, the economic reforms in the 1980s put an end to a sharp decline in the relative economic performance of the New Zealand economy.
New Zealand physical and human capital (by a skill level), 1986 – 2001
17 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economic history, economics of education, entrepreneurship, human capital, labour economics, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality Tags: pension fund socialism, top 1%, Withering away of the proletariat
New Zealand working class is wealthier than the entire capitalist class. Their human capital, shown in the chart below as the human capital of the unskilled and non-degree workers, far exceeds the value of the physical capital stock of New Zealand.
Source: Lˆe Thi. Vˆan Tr`ınh, Estimating the monetary value of the stock of human capital for New Zealand, University of Canterbury PhD thesis (September 2006).
Only part of this physical capital stock is owned by the capitalist class given we live in the era of pension fund socialism. About a 3rd of that physical capital stock is owner occupied homes.
Source: Lˆe Thi. Vˆan Tr`ınh, Estimating the monetary value of the stock of human capital for New Zealand, University of Canterbury PhD thesis (September 2006).
The only reason that the share of unskilled and non-degree workers is in any way declining is the withering away of the proletariat. More and more people are joining the middle-class and going on to higher education.
Andrew Little is looking to update Labour's definition of the 'working class': stuff.co.nz/national/polit… http://t.co/AQ9mJL7CQf—
NZ Stuff Politics (@NZStuffPolitics) November 30, 2014
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The value of New Zealand owner occupied homes, net capital stock and human capital stock since 1987
17 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economic history, economics of education, entrepreneurship, human capital, labour economics, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, urban economics Tags: household wealth, housing prices, pessimism bias, top 1%
Tring Le found that the human capital stock was consistently 2.6 times the value of the physical capital stock of New Zealand.
I decided to apply that ratio to the net capital stock of New Zealand estimates of Statistics New Zealand back to 1987 to see what we get. It is pretty standard for the value of human capital to be two to two and one-half times the value of physical capital.
Source: National Accounts (Industry Benchmarks): Year ended March 2013 and Lˆe Thi. Vˆan Tr`ınh, Estimating the monetary value of the stock of human capital for New Zealand, University of Canterbury PhD thesis (September 2006), Table 4.8: Human and physical capital stocks.
All the above chart says it is most wealth in New Zealand is held by ordinary people either as their human capital or the value of their homes.
Brian Easton on whether inequality has risen in the past 20 years in New Zealand
14 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality
Source: Brian Easton (14 March 2016) Do inequality and poverty matter? | Pundit
James Heckman on what money cannot buy including a universal basic income
08 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of education, politics - New Zealand, population economics, poverty and inequality, welfare reform
Source: The Economics of Human Development and Social Mobility, James J. Heckman, Stefano Mosso, NBER Working Paper No. 19925, February 2014.
This @amprog conservative antipoverty dictionary does not add up
08 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, labour economics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, welfare reform Tags: 1996 US welfare reforms, pessimism bias, social insurance, welfare state
From @EugeneSteuerle: Combined tax rates and creating a 21st century social welfare budget tpc.io/1GCdrYF http://t.co/aNRPqz5gAc—
Tax Policy Center (@TaxPolicyCenter) June 28, 2015
The only alternative offered by the Centre for American Progress is send them on a course. This response, which is the standard policy response to any labour market crisis, will not solve poverty, mush less inequality.
Will more education decrease inequality? A simulation provided an answer. nyti.ms/1xw5m9W http://t.co/paQp19BEWc—
The Upshot (@UpshotNYT) March 31, 2015
Implicit tax on a lone parent returning to a low-paid job in the USA, UK, Denmark, France, Germany, Canada, Australia and New Zealand
28 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, fiscal policy, labour economics, labour supply, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, public economics, welfare reform Tags: poverty traps, single mothers, single parents, social insurance, taxation and labour supply, welfare state
Will there be poverty on the Starship Enterprise?
26 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economic history, poverty and inequality
A Facebook photo by Mary Ruwart reminded me of the question I posed in previous blog posts about whether there will be poverty on the Star Trek enterprise. Those security officers in the red tunics get a really bad deal, especially if they beam down to the planet with Captain Kirk.
The role of inheritance in top incomes
25 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economic history, entrepreneurship, human capital, labour economics, poverty and inequality Tags: entrepreneurial alertness, superstars, top 1%
@ChrisHipkins @jacindaardern New Zealand graduate premium @dbseymour
17 Feb 2016 3 Comments
in applied price theory, economics of education, human capital, income redistribution, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, rentseeking
How conceited students are to complain about a $20,000 student loan when they got $1/2 million coming down the pipe. 
Source: A Degree is a smart investment | Universities New Zealand – Te Pōkai Tara.
Self-appointed social justice warriors in the New Zealand Labour Party and New Zealand Greens pander to this middle class greed. They should be ashamed of themselves.
26% of eligible students do not take out a student loan so they would really get a leg up from the abolition of tuition fees.
The median repayment time for those who left study in 2011 and remained in New Zealand was 5.8 years.
How did British billionaires make their money
16 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economic history, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, financial economics, human capital, industrial organisation, labour economics, poverty and inequality, survivor principle Tags: billionaires, British economy, entrepreneurial alertness, superstars, top 1%
Inheriting wealth is not what it used to be in Britain. There are all these upstarts running businesses or working in the City.
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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