The State of Working America

[Excerpt] Like its predecessors, this edition of The State of Working America digs deeply into a broad range of data to answer a basic question that headline numbers on gross domestic product, inflation, stock indices, productivity, and other metrics can\u27t wholly answer: How well has the American economy worked to provide acceptable growth in living standards for most households? According to the data, the short answer is, not well at all. The past 10 years have been a lost decade of wage and income growth for most American families. A quarter century of wage stagnation and slow income growth preceded this lost decade, largely because rising wage, income, and wealth inequality funneled the rewards of economic growth to the top. The sweep of the research in this book shows that these trends are the result of inadequate, wrong, or absent policy responses. Ample economic growth in the past three-and-a-half decades provided the potential to substantially raise living standards across the board, but economic policies frequently served the interests of those with the most wealth, income, and political power and prevented broad-based prosperity

Wages, Profits, and Rent‐Sharing in an Open Economy

Abstract This paper examines the link between international trade and labor market bargaining power. It reviews simple theories of rent‐sharing in closed and open economies. Earlier studies on the issue of rent‐sharing implicitly assume a closed economy. This assumption may provide some misleading results, especially for studying current developments in the US labor market. Empirical results suggest that the apparent decline in labor’s bargaining power in US manufacturing may be attributable to growing international integration.Wages, rent‐sharing, bargaining power, globalization, J3, F0,

DISTURBING ECONOMIC MYSTERIES: The Causes of the "Job Loss" Recovery

This economic recovery badly needs explaining. It was the first economic recovery in the modern period in which jobs were lost, not gained. The two authors provide an exhaustive analysis of why it has been different this time around. One of their conclusions is that institutional financial power and changes in corporate governance have contributed significantly to sluggish employment.

Macro Policy Lessons from the Recent Recession

It is time to take a look back at how effective the Bush economic policies have been. In one of the most comprehensive analyses of policy to date, these economists present a critical historical analysis of recent policy. They conclude that more coordinated policy could have resulted in an economy that started to recover quickly, would probably have resulted in more job growth, and would not have left America with ongoing sources of instability and high future budget deficits.