Source: General government – General government spending – OECD Data and Source: General government – General government revenue – OECD Data.
General government spending and general government revenue as % of US GDP since 1970
12 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, economic history, fiscal policy, politics - USA, public economics Tags: growth of government, size of government
Peter Lyons does not know what monetarism is – the antithesis of discretion, fine tuning
11 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in history of economic thought, macroeconomics, Milton Friedman, monetary economics Tags: monetary rules, rules versus discretion
Peter Lyons teaches Economics at St Peter’s College in Epsom and has written several economics texts.
Source: Peter Lyons: Free market doctrine’s bubble about to burst – Economy – NZ Herald News.
Source: Milton Friedman (1984).
Tom Sargent on how jobs are always available
10 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, job search and matching, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, unemployment
Source: How Sweden’s Unemployment Became More Like Europe’s, Lars Ljungqvist, Thomas J. Sargent 2010.
Inequality is not getting worse and worse says @WJRosenbergCTU!?
09 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in economic growth, economic history, politics - New Zealand, unions
Bill Rosenberg of the Council of Trade Unions is one of many economists who point out that income inequality has not been getting worse and worse in New Zealand since the 1990s. Inequality rose sharply in the late 1980s and early 90s but has remained high but nevertheless stable since then as he says in his 2014 paper of trends in living standards:
This is another symptom of the sharp rise in income inequality between the mid 1980s and mid 1990s, which remains high.
His employer, the Council of Trade Unions when it was denouncing the Employment Contracts Act 1991 as the reason for low wages growth has also drawn attention to the early 1990s as a turning point in the relationship between inequality, union bargaining power and wages growth.
As the Council of Trade Unions showed in the chart it published during the last election campaign, which I snapshoted below and also annotated, from 1970 to 1975 there was rapid real wages growth, well in excess of real growth in per capita GDP. This wages breakout was followed by some ups and downs but essentially wages in 1995 were no higher per hour from what they were in 1975. Real wages were about $24 per hour in real terms in New Zealand for about 20 years – from 1975 to 1995.
There was no real GDP per capita growth from 1975 until 1979 nor in the five years leading up to the passage of the Employment Contracts Act 1991. The period leading up to 1975 wages breakout wages was the zenith of union membership; nearly 70% of all workers belonging to a union. Less than 20% do now and less than 10% in the private sector.
Source: Income Gap | New Zealand Council of Trade Unions – Te Kauae Kaimahi.
After staying at about $24 per hour for 20 years from 1975 to the early 1990s, following the passage of the Employment Contracts Act in 1991, average wages in New Zealand have increased steadily from $24 an hour to about $28 per hour by 2014 in one of the most deregulated labour markets in the world.
As Rosenberg, who is chief economist at the Council of Trade Unions, and the Council of Trade Unions itself pointed out, there were major changes in the New Zealand economy in terms of inequality of incomes and union bargaining power in the late 80s and early 1990s.
These changes referred to by the unions as an erosion of workers bargaining power, brought an end to wage stagnation. Steady real wages growth returned after two lost decades: next to no growth in either GDP per capita or incomes of workers.
Presidential candidate tax plans and economic growth
06 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, politics - USA, public economics Tags: 2016 presidential election, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply
[/embed]https://www.facebook.com/UnbiasedAmerica/photos/pb.123061011213236.-2207520000.1457089554./449398021912865/?type=3&theater[/embed]
Effective marginal tax rates on single and dual earner families in the USA, Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Australia and New Zealand
05 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in economics of love and marriage, fiscal policy, gender, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, public economics Tags: Australia, British economy, Canada, Denmark, effective marginal tax rates, family tax benefits, family tax credits, France, Germany, in-work tax credits, Italy, poverty traps, rational irrationality, social insurance, Sweden, taxation and labour supply
Some countries including New Zealand and Australia do not give ordinary families much of an incentive to earn more. Effective marginal tax rates on low income families is one of the few times that the Left discovers supply-side economics.
Source: Taxing Wages 2015 – OECD 2015.
Income tax plus employee Social Security contributions less tax benefits by family structure in the US, Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, Denmark, France, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand
05 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in fiscal policy, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, public economics Tags: Australia, British economy, Canada, Denmark, family taxation, France, Germany, Italy, social insurance, Sweden, taxation and labour supply
Those sensitive and caring northern European welfare states do tax families rather heavily even after accounting for family cash benefits.
Source: Taxing Wages 2015 – OECD 2015.
Income tax plus employee contributions less cash benefits as % of earnings by family type in USA, Britain, Canada, Sweden, France, Italy, Denmark, Germany, Australia and New Zealand
04 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in fiscal policy, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, public economics Tags: Australia, British economy, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, social insurance, Social Security, Sweden, taxation and labour supply
Those much admired northern European welfare states tax families and individuals much more than do the Anglo-Saxon welfare states.
Source: Taxing Wages 2015 – OECD 2015.
Income tax and social security contributions as a percentage of gross wage earnings in the USA, Britain, Canada, Germany, Denmark, Italy, France, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand
04 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in fiscal policy, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, public economics Tags: Australia, British economy, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, social insurance, Social Security, Sweden, taxation and labour supply
Source: Taxing Wages 2015 – OECD 2015.
Income tax plus employee and employer social security contributions as % of labour costs in US, Britain, Germany, Italy, Canada, Australia, Sweden and Denmark
03 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in fiscal policy, public economics Tags: Australia, British economy, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, social insurance, Social Security, Sweden, taxation and labour supply
AEI reviews the Big Short
03 Mar 2016 Leave a comment
in business cycles, Euro crisis, global financial crisis (GFC), macroeconomics
General government expenditure as % of US, British and Canadian GDP since 1960
28 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, politics - USA, public economics Tags: British economy, Canada, growth of government, Margaret Thatcher, size of government, Thatchernomics, Tony Blair
Both the British and Canadian economies experienced major winding backs in the size of government. Only the UK, under neoliberal pawn and closet Thatcherite Tony Blair, was that undone. He is now despised by many Labour Party members including its current leader for this record.
Data extracted on 23 Feb 2016 07:45 UTC (GMT) from OECD.Stat.
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
From the same starting place – US, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian general government expenditure as a % of GDP
24 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in economic history, macroeconomics, public economics
Notice that the welfare states in Scandinavia were recent creations subsequent to post-war prosperity.
Data extracted on 23 Feb 2016 07:45 UTC (GMT) from OECD.Stat.
General government expenditure as % of Portuguese, Italian, Greek and Spanish GDP since 1960
24 Feb 2016 Leave a comment
in economic growth, economic history, Euro crisis, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, public economics Tags: Greece, growth of government, Italy, Portugal, size of government, Spain
I do not think any of these countries have governments who can really handle managing half of national income on a regular basis. The Italian, and I assume Greek GDPs at least are topped up quite considerably to take account of their underground economies. The top up for Italy is 20%.
Data extracted on 23 Feb 2016 07:45 UTC (GMT) from OECD.Stat.
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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