A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 48 “And Betterment, Though Long Disdained, Developed Its Own Vested Interests” Change is hard to do in a system in part because it hurts one or more groups who are part of the existing status quo. So how can something as big as a…
Tag: Market Power
Bourgeois Equality
Are Libertarians Right about Government?
A Discussion of Bourgeois Equality Chapter 16 “Most Governmental Institutions Make Us Poorer” Calling all libertarians! I think this chapter is for you. This chapter wraps up Part 2. Chapters 10 and 11 showed the Left’s explanations for the Great Enrichment were wrong, but Chapter 12 and 13 did the…
Microeconomics
Bigger Firms used to Mean Bigger Paychecks but not Anymore
A Discussion of “The Productivity-Wage Premium: Does the Size Still Matter in a Service Economy?” We turn today to another piece in the puzzle of determining why it seems income inequality has grown in the United States in recent decades. Knowing why a variable is trending a certain way makes…
Microeconomics
Superstar Firms Causing Concentration of Market Power
A Discussion of “Concentrating on the Fall of the Labor Share” For much of the 20th century, economists marveled at the stability of labor’s share of national income. Labor’s share of national income is the total dollar amount paid out in wages, salaries, and benefits as a percentage of GDP,…
Microeconomics
Increasing Market Power Leading to Increasing Inequality
A Discussion of “Market Power, Inequality, and Financial Instability” Two economists from the Federal Reserve have put out a paper that is exactly what I think economics should look like. What do I mean? Cairo and Sim (2020) identify six problematic trends in our macro economy since 1980, trying to…