Evaluating early results from the Treasury’s move to curb corporate tax inversions. Explaining the impact of inequality, opportunity, and growth on stagnant wage trends. Describing why to say “we fought the war on poverty and lost” is to reveal ones contempt for the facts of the case. Explaining why we should be careful not to view… Read more

Looking at the connection between full employment, trade deficits, and the dollar as a reserve currency. Exploring the debate around wages and technology. Responding to Paul Krugman on trade deficits as a barrier to full employment. Pondering the impact of the sharp decline in budget deficit. Reviewing Ed Kleinbard’s new book, We Are Better Than This: How Government Should… Read more

On September’s jobs data, explaining why it’s a solid jobs report with one big caveat — stagnant wages. Also, is the strengthening dollar hurting manufacturing employment? Describing the connection between stagnant wages and deep-seeded structural changes that have been zapping worker bargaining power for decades. Discussing the economics of raising the federal minimum wage. Explaining… Read more

Sharing some advance thoughts re Martin Wolf’s new book. Pushing back on a misleading critique of a paper I wrote on inequality and growth. Analyzing Chair Yellen’s decision to keep the words “considerable time” in her statement before the FOMC. Explaining the biased against full employment in when-to-lift-rates debate. Looking at evidence of labor market slack through… Read more

On poverty, thinking about the relationship between poverty and growth, calling on all nerds to pay attention to the reduced sample size in the Census Bureau’s poverty data, and analyzing the actual results from the Census. Teaming up with Harry Holzer to describe a win-win approach to increase the future labor force. Exploring some ideas to reduce American’s excessive stock buyback problem…. Read more