The Squeezed Middle Class: An International View
Being "middle-class" is a perception that includes more than a certain range of numerical rankings in the distribution of income. For example, it includes a sense that one's job is reasonably stable heading into the future, a sense that income from the job is sufficient to purchase the goods and services associated with middle-class social status, and a sense that this status is likely to be passed on to one's children.
- 02/05/2019
- 6
The Disability Insurance Debate
Back in 2015, the trust fund for the Social Security Disability Insurance Trust Fund was in deep trouble, scheduled to run out of money by 2016. A short-term legislative fix brought a few years more solvency for the trust fund, by moving some of the payroll tax for other Social Security benefits over to the disability trust fund, but the situation continued to look dire. For some of my previous takes on the situation, see this from 2016, this from 2013, or this from 2011. Or see this three-paper symposium on disability insurance from the Spring 2015 Journal of Economic Perspectives, with a discussion of what what going wrong in the US system and discussions of reforms from the Netherlands and the UK.
- 01/05/2019
- 4
Washing Machine Tariffs: Who Paid? Who Benefits?
When import tariffs are proposed, there's a lot of talk about unfairness and helping workers. But when the tariffs are enacted, the standard pattern is that consumers pay more, profits for the protected firm go up, and jobs are reshuffled from unprotected to protected industries. Back in 1911, satirist Ambrose Bierce defined "tariff" this way in The Devil's Dictionary: "TARIFF, n.A scale of taxes on imports, designed to protect the domestic producer against the greed of his consumer."
- 29/04/2019
- 7
When Special Interests Play in the Sunlight
There's a common presumption in American politics that special interests are more likely to hold sway during secret negotiations in back rooms, while the broader public interest is more likely to win out in a transparent and open process. People making this case often quote Louis Brandeis, from his 1914 book Other People's Money: "Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants ..." This use of the sunlight metaphor wasn't original to Brandeis: for example, James Bryce also used it in an 1888 book The American Commonwealth.
- 28/04/2019
- 5
Financial Managers and Misconduct
"Financial advisers in the United States manage over $30 trillion in investible assets, and plan the financial futures of roughly half of U.S. households. At the same time, trust in the financial sector remains near all-time lows. The 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer ranks financial services as the least trusted sector by consumers, finding that only 54 percent of consumers `trust the financial services sector to do what is right.'"
- 25/04/2019
- 5
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