Unions – not the cause of our 40 hour workweek
10 Nov 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, economic history, entrepreneurship, health and safety, human capital, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, Marxist economics, minimum wage, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, unions Tags: The Great Enrichment, union power, union wage premium
Child poverty by British Prime Minister since 1961
03 Nov 2015 Leave a comment
in economic growth, economic history, poverty and inequality
When I pointed out yesterday that the only periods of sustained real household income growth in recent British history was under those neoliberal lapdogs Thatcher and Blair, the Twitter Left on Reddit decided rather prematurely I might say that:
The prime minister rarely influences broad economic realities — like commodity prices or interest rates, or double digit economic growth in china. Elections frequently change the party in power AFTER the economy turns downwards. As though that party had anything to do with the down turn.
I’m sure that the morally centred Twitter Left will be equally forgiving of the sustained rise in child poverty due to many more workless households shown in the chart below under Thatchernomics. The only sustained fall in child poverty rates in recent British history was under Tony Blair. The British Left and current British Labour Party leadership dismiss him as a continuation of Thatchernomics.
Source: Incomes in the UK – Institute For Fiscal Studies – IFS.
Top incomes and the decline of unions in Canada, France and Italy
03 Nov 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, economic history, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply, Milton Friedman, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, rentseeking, unions Tags: Canada, entrepreneurial alertness, France, Italy, top 1%, union power, union wage premium
The French ruling class is as lazy as their transnational co-conspirators down under. French union membership is in serious decline albeit from a low base. An opportunity lost for the French ruling class. It has not lifted a finger to extract additional labour surplus from the downtrodden French proletariat now stripped of their only line of collective defence against capitalist exploitation.
Source: OECD Stat and Top Incomes Database.
The top 10% and top 1% in France are no better off than two generations ago despite the decline of French unions. The French Left must be most disappointed. No kicking in the rotten door of the permanent revolution anytime soon after the immiserised French proletariat rises up because it has nothing to lose but its chains. The 21st century version of the Marxist call to the barricades would be a proletariat stirred to revolution with nothing to lose but their suburban home, motorcar, IPad and air points
Source: OECD Stat and Top Incomes Database.
The Italian ruling class has had little success in bringing Italian unions down. The top 10% in Italy is earning no more now than back when the Red Brigades were gunning for them.
Source: OECD Stat and Top Incomes Database.
The top 1% in Italy is doing a little bit better than when the Red Brigade was gunning for them, but not much more. Unions don’t figure in explaining that small rise in Italian top 1% incomes over the last 40 years. Italian unions are pretty much a strong as they were 40 years ago in membership. Italian employment protection laws are pretty much as strong as they used to be too.
Source: OECD Stat and Top Incomes Database.
The Canadian ruling classes even more incompetent than their transnational co-conspirators over in Italy. There appears to have been next to no decline in union membership in Canada. The Canadian top 10% is not earning any more than back in the 60s.
Source: OECD Stat and Top Incomes Database.
The Canadian top 1% is doing a little bit better than 25 years ago also but not off the back of unions which are almost as strong as in the past. The Canadian Left will have to look for a different hypothesis than the ravages of the top 1%.
Source: OECD Stat and Top Incomes Database.
All in all, the Economic Policy Institute simply got lucky with a spurious correlation between top incomes and union membership in the USA.
Did the British disease pass retirees by? British retiree and non-retiree median real household income by Prime Minister since 1977
03 Nov 2015 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economic growth, economic history, macroeconomics, poverty and inequality Tags: British economy, British politics, Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair
The British disease and the horrors of Thatchernomics past British retirees by as did pretty much the Global Financial Crisis. Slow and steady as she goes under every Prime Minister since 1977 has been year in year out result for the real disposable median incomes of British retired households. Despite it all, British retiree household incomes increased by 170% since the winter of discontent. The fastest growth in retiree incomes was under Tony Blair.
Source: Release Edition Reference Tables – ONS.
Notes:
1 Households are ranked by their equivalised disposable incomes, using the modified-OECD scale.
2 1994/95 represents the financial year ending 1995, and similarly through to 2014/15, which represents the financial year ending 2015.
3 Income figures have been deflated to 2014/15 prices using an implied deflator for the household sector.
It has been a much rockier ride for British households yet to retire. Once again, the only time a sustained real income increases for non-retired households was under Thatcher and Blair. Despite it all, household real incomes have doubled since the winter of discontent. The majority of that doubling was under the dead hand of Tony Blair. British Labour now spends a considerable amount of time repudiating that time of unusually rapid household income growth across all of British society.
Source: Release Edition Reference Tables – ONS.
Notes:
1 Households are ranked by their equivalised disposable incomes, using the modified-OECD scale.
2 1994/95 represents the financial year ending 1995, and similarly through to 2014/15, which represents the financial year ending 2015.
3 Income figures have been deflated to 2014/15 prices using an implied deflator for the household sector.
@resfoundation shows @jeremycorbyn how good it was under Blair
02 Nov 2015 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economic history, labour economics, poverty and inequality
@Greencatherine 1996 US welfare reforms and the employment of single mums who were high school dropouts
31 Oct 2015 Leave a comment
in labour economics, labour supply, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, welfare reform Tags: 1996 US welfare reforms, paternal labour supply, single mothers, single parents, social insurance, welfare state
https://twitter.com/hamiltonproj/status/659776768094547968
There was a step increase in the employment rate of single parents and in particular high school dropouts straight after the implementation of the 1996 US federal welfare reforms.
These single mothers who dropped out of high school were thought to be least employable and most at risk to the 1996 US welfare reform. There was a large increase in their employment and this massive improvement in their rates of employment is enduring to this day.
New Zealand child poverty compared internationally
30 Oct 2015 Leave a comment
in labour economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, poverty and inequality Tags: child poverty
Every 3rd Child in the US lives in poverty.
(in #Norway & #Finland: https://t.co/K5Ub2QuPoE—
Max Roser (@MaxCRoser) October 21, 2015
@zoesqwilliams has great timing on capitalism not doing enough on poverty @worstall
23 Oct 2015 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, growth disasters, growth miracles, Marxist economics, poverty and inequality Tags: extreme poverty, global poverty, Leftover Left, life expectancies, The Great Escape, The Great Fact, Twitter left
When Zoe Williams was born in 1973, 60% of humanity lived in extreme poverty. That has dropped to 1 in 10.
When my father was born, 7 in 10 people lived in absolute poverty.
Today, it's 1 in 10! https://t.co/1Caqku3AY1—
Tim Fernholz (@TimFernholz) October 21, 2015
Just the other day, the World Bank estimated that extreme poverty has dropped below 10% of the world’s population for the first time in human history but some are still grumbling.
What will it take to finish the “Last Mile” in ending extreme #poverty? brook.gs/1LiFT8E http://t.co/YxSZ36VCSW—
Brookings (@BrookingsInst) October 07, 2015
Zoe Williams is not grumbling about the failed states and predatory government responsible for the last pockets of extreme poverty, but about the inequality from economic progress under capitalism.
The extreme poor live in conflict & rural areas: wrld.bg/Nynge #endpoverty http://t.co/43HDDI11JR—
World Bank (@WorldBank) May 31, 2015
Zoe Williams honestly believes that extreme poverty could have been reduced faster if we had taken on the socialist road.
These 4 nations are 50% of mankind. That's 3.5 billion people who are living longer. buff.ly/1Kle6mU #health http://t.co/949oqisMsL—
HumanProgress.org (@humanprogress) June 30, 2015
China and India escaped from extreme poverty by rejecting socialism.
Just released: new global poverty estimates from 1990-2015 using updated extreme poverty line http://t.co/LxD5q2n6Mg—
Laurence Chandy (@laurencechandy) October 04, 2015
China and India received next to no overseas development assistance in their Great Escape from extreme poverty.
Embrace the free market and overtake your socialist competitors. buff.ly/1PZ3yuN http://t.co/xfpF4vtqlv—
HumanProgress.org (@humanprogress) October 05, 2015
There’s been some clear-cut natural experiments such as between Chile and Venezuela and Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and just about any other developing country in terms of capitalism as the only path to prosperity.
The reverse gender gap in black education
22 Oct 2015 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, occupational choice, poverty and inequality, welfare reform Tags: reversing gender gap
Working poor in OECD member countries
19 Oct 2015 Leave a comment
in labour economics, poverty and inequality Tags: working poor
Will high marginal tax rates and redistribution fix inequality?
18 Oct 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, entrepreneurship, human capital, labour economics, occupational choice, politics - USA, poverty and inequality Tags: Gini coefficient, rational irrationality, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and human capital, taxation and labour supply, taxation investment
How targeted are the European welfare states?
15 Oct 2015 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, poverty and inequality
Not all European welfare states are created equal. Denmark and Norway target a good two thirds or more of its public social benefits to the bottom to income quintiles. Sweden is not far behind as is Finland as targeted welfare states.
Source: OECD Income Distribution database, via http://oe.cd/idd
Germany by contrast spreads its largess from its welfare state almost identically across the entire income spectrum. France does not seem the see the poor as a priority for the welfare state with larges increasing with the richer you get. The British are a bit messy where they target a quarter of their welfare state to the poor but another 30% of public cash social benefits go to the working poor or whatever they may be called.
% of public cash benefits paid to the bottom income quintile, USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand – corrected
15 Oct 2015 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, poverty and inequality
Australia does far better than any other country in targeting its welfare state to the bottom of the income distribution. Having an old age pension that is asset tested and income tested has a lot to do with that. New Zealand has an old age pension that is not income tested or asset tested. The USA has a contributory social insurance system that also ensures a considerable amount of its public social benefits are paid to the well off because they paid in Social Security taxes.
Source: OECD Income Distribution database, via http://oe.cd/idd
How @MaxRashbrooke showed housing costs is the main driver of poverty when trying to argue rising inequality was not driven by housing costs
13 Oct 2015 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economics of regulation, politics - New Zealand, poverty and inequality, Rawls and Nozick, rentseeking, urban economics
Rashbrooke then goes on to discuss how housing costs were not a main driver of the growing gap between the top 10% and the bottom 10% of the income distribution in New Zealand. My point is he is more concerned with the politics of envy than with building political support for action against poverty.
What children say about poverty #childpovertynz #itsnotchoice http://t.co/vYfxTn7aG7—
Child Poverty NZ (@povertymonitor) September 07, 2015
Rashbrooke showed that the main driver of poverty in New Zealand is rising housing costs. That is easy to redress but for the opposition of the left-wing parties to reforms to the Resource Management Act that will increase the supply of land and thereby drive down housing costs and rents.
Children's views on poverty #childpovertynz occ.org.nz/assets/Uploads… http://t.co/wZHJ19QcpN—
Child Poverty NZ (@povertymonitor) September 08, 2015
Housing costs gobbled up much of the rising incomes of the poor for many years now in New Zealand as Rashbrooke showed today. The New Zealand Labor Party and New Zealand Greens are doing nothing about it. The regulatory constraints on the supply of land could be gone by lunchtime if the self-proclaimed champions of the poor and social justice supported the reform of the RMA.
The proposals of the New Zealand Labour Party and Greens for the government to build more houses is pointless unless there is more land is supplied. If there is no increase in land supply, all the building of more houses by government does is build the same houses of private developers would have built on the same fixed supply of land. There must be an increase in the supply of land to drive housing costs down for the poor.
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