TIMOTHY NOAH JANUARY 19, 2012
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1.) Scott Winship of Brookings and Miles Corak of the University of Ottawa had a back-and-forth about whether White House chief economist Alan Krueger's "Great Gatsby" scatter diagram (see Page 8) successfully links income inequality to immobility. If you want to follow this, here's the sequence:
The debate is pretty technical. Winship concludes by saying his criticism of the "Great Gatsby" chart wasn't "the main criticism I had with Krueger's speech," which smells to me like retreat. On the Freakonomics blog, Justin Wolfers calls it for Corak. In my own research I have relied on work by both Winship and Corak, and I respect both economists.
2.) Oxfam has a new report on global income inequality. The countries where incomes tend to be most unequal are "emerging market economies: South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Argentina, China, and Turkey." Countries where incomes tend to be most equal are the most developed ones with higher incomes: France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Australia. The United States is a conspicuous exception. You can read the whole report here.
5 comments
Thank you for your excellent and fair coverage of this highly important issue, Timothy. Gordon
- liberalref
January 19, 2012 at 9:18pm
I will post here because my point is about inequality, though in the context of the NYT's defender of wealth, David Brooks. In his column today, Brooks provides a narrative of Romney's ancestors and their struggles (which are many), from which Brooks derives the lesson that Romney's success is attributable to his ancestors' struggles. In his narrative, Brooks fails to mention Romney's father, the CEO of a major US automobile company and governor of Michigan, because, one can only assume, in Brooks' view it is irrelevant to Romney's success and wealth. Of course, if Brooks is correct and that success today is dependent on the hardship suffered by one's ancestors, then I ask why don't African Americans today experience the greatest success since no group's ancestors suffered more in America. Brooks is simply using Romney's family history to create a narrative, a narrative that supports Brooks' philosophy, and to divert attention from Romney's vast wealth, how he came about it, and what it means to America if he is elected President. Brooks' essay is absurd, and worse, it's dishonest.
- rayward
January 20, 2012 at 8:01am
Are Brooks' columns ever anything else?
- roidubouloi
January 20, 2012 at 8:24am
Believe it or not, there is dishonesty on the left, too, and not a little of it is ladled out by TNR readers.
- liberalref
January 20, 2012 at 9:44am
Earth to Noah -- If you do the regression, income inequality is entirely explained by market factors, e.g.: - Skills - Experience - Choice of industry and work location In anytown USA, starting out, a Harvard English major from a top 1% family will make 50% less than a University of Illinois Computer Science major from a bottom 1% family. The cause of inequality is clear. The remedy is also clear -- stop liberals from teaching, make sure everyone understand basic econ and descriptive statistics, and encourage would-be public sector parasites to re-think their live's mission (you can do better)
- mr_rationale
January 20, 2012 at 10:36pm