Making ends meet on minimum pay – how many working hours are needed to move out of #poverty? oe.cd/12J http://t.co/96g2bUj3Ng—
OECD Publications (@OECD_Pubs) July 09, 2015
How @equitablegrowth showed inequality helps growth when arguing inequality harms growth
10 Aug 2015 1 Comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, currency unions, economic growth, economic history, economics of regulation, entrepreneurship, Euro crisis, fiscal policy, global financial crisis (GFC), income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, public economics, rentseeking Tags: British disease, entrepreneurial alertness, Eurosclerosis, France, German unification, Germany, growth of government, sick man of Europe, social insurance, Sweden, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply, welfare state
The Washington Centre for Equitable Growth recently tweeted that inequality harms growth in the USA as compared to Sweden, France, Germany and the UK. It was relying on some dodgy OECD research.
.@OECD sees continued rise in growth-harming inequality, reports @PaulHannon29 on.wsj.com/1EZpq1S http://t.co/xt4heZysXT—
Equitable Growth (@equitablegrowth) May 21, 2015
The Washington Centre for Equitable Growth did not check their inequality ratios they tweeted against trends in economic growth and economic policy since 1970, which I have reproduced in figure 1. Germany is not included in figure 1 because German data on growth is thrown askew by German unification.
Figure 1: Real GDP per British, French and Swede aged 15-64, 2014 US$ (converted to 2014 price level with updated 2011 PPPs), 1.9 per cent detrended, 1970-2013
Source: Computed from OECD Stat Extract and The Conference Board. 2015. The Conference Board Total Economy Database™, May 2015, http://www.conference-board.org/data/economydatabase/
Figure 1 shows that France has been in a long-term decline since the late 1970s despite the blessings of a more equal society than the USA as championed by the Washington Centre for Equitable Growth. In figure 1, a flat line is growth in real GDP per working age person, PPP, at the same rate as the USA for the 20th century, which was 1.9% per year. A falling line in figure 1 indicates growth of less than 1.9% while a rising line indicates growth in real GDP per working age person, PPP, in excess of 1.9%. In figure 1, France hardly ever grew at the trend rate of growth for the USA of 1.9% per year and was frequently well below that rate.
Sweden tells a slightly different story in figure 1 because of regime change in the early 1990s when Sweden adopted more liberal economic policies where taxes and government spending were reduced:
The rapid growth of the state in the late 1960s and 1970s led to a large decline in Sweden’s relative economic performance. In 1975, Sweden was the 4th richest industrialised country in terms of GDP per head. By 1993, it had fallen to 14th.
@alexvoronov använda smygfinansiering av Generell Välfärd är alltid av ondo. @NimaSanandaji: bit.ly/1Nar2eV http://t.co/wD0YEgncIE—
Old Whig (@aClassicLiberal) August 05, 2015
That regime change reversed a long economic decline since 1970 under the egalitarian policies of the Swedish Social Democratic Party. Under the Swedish Social Democratic Party, Sweden was almost always growing at less than the trend rate of growth of the USA, which was 1.9%. That position reversed only when there was a turn away from big government and high taxes.
Figure 1 tells a similar story for the British economy: a long economic decline in the 1970s when Britain was the sick man of Europe. Under Thatchernomics, Europe had a long economic boom for 20 years or more – see figure 1.
In the 1970s, under the high taxes of the Heath, Callaghan and Wilson administrations, as figure 1 shows, Britain was the sick man of Europe. With the election of the Thatcher Government, Britain soon grew at better than the US trend growth rate for nearly 20 years through few exceptions.
Graph of the Day: The UK has among the lowest total tax rates on businesses in the G7 http://t.co/l6mMhN9yLD—
CPS Think Tank (@CPSThinkTank) August 04, 2015
The impact of welfare states on life expectancy
07 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, fiscal policy, labour economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, poverty and inequality, welfare reform Tags: Denmark, Finland, life expectancies, Norway, Sweden, welfare state
New from @iealondon: Scandinavian success is not due to high taxes and welfare spending. iea.org.uk/in-the-media/p… http://t.co/QVH566KNtV—
IEA (@iealondon) July 07, 2015
The living wage as an application of Director’s Law
30 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in income redistribution, labour economics, minimum wage, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, population economics, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: British politics, Director's Law, expressive voting, living wage, rational ignorance, rational irrationality
OBR's idea of who will benefit from National Living Wage http://t.co/ztxfW906Gg—
James Bartholomew (@JGBartholomew) July 08, 2015
Digital poverty in America is less than 3% for young adults
29 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of media and culture, politics - USA, poverty and inequality Tags: 10-90 lag, Digital poverty, technology diffusion, The Great Enrichment
15% of Americans don’t use the internet. Who are they? pewrsr.ch/1HYkSgM http://t.co/vL6uRuz5iK—
PewResearch FactTank (@FactTank) July 28, 2015
Down and out in America
28 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in labour economics, politics - USA, poverty and inequality Tags: child poverty, family poverty, living standards, The Great Enrichment
Down and out in America in 2009
28 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, labour economics, politics - USA, population economics, poverty and inequality Tags: living standards, The Great Enrichment
When I worked at Marxism Today, my desire to earn a living proved to be somewhat déclassé.
26 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, labour economics, law and economics, Marxist economics, minimum wage, poverty and inequality Tags: far left, Labour standards, Left-wing hypocrisy, Leftover Left, living wage, progressive left
Did the 1996 federal welfare reforms increase child poverty in America?
25 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in applied welfare economics, economic history, labour economics, poverty and inequality, welfare reform Tags: 1996 U.S. welfare reforms, child poverty, family poverty
Number of black children in poverty may have eclipsed whites for the first time on record pewrsr.ch/1M7La40 http://t.co/wnb9sLo9Fv—
PewResearch FactTank (@FactTank) July 18, 2015
Some demographics of middle-class wage stagnation
23 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in labour economics, labour supply, poverty and inequality Tags: ageing society, labour demographics, middle-class wage stagnation, wage stagnation
CHART: Here's one explanation for stagnant/declining real median household income: the Aging of America. http://t.co/ADSWKwiuzA—
Mark J. Perry (@Mark_J_Perry) June 08, 2015
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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