DISQUS

Wilson · 2 years ago

Thank god for you, Will Wilkinson. Excellent post.

TGGP · 2 years ago

I'm sure you've already read it, but Stephen Rose's The Trouble With Class-Interest Populism from the Progressive Policy Institute seems relevant.

Lu-Dro · 2 years ago

Ouch, somebody's a little bitter.

alphie · 2 years ago

A single guy who couldn't finish his Ph.D. saying middle class Americans with families to feed will somehow be able to identify and aquire the skills needed to increase their income when their job gets shipped overseas.

I think we have a definition of Libertarianism here.

danboarder · 2 years ago

Perhaps more people _will be_ anxious about the economy and their life situation when their mortgage payments double while income remains flat. Oh, wait, that's already happening...

The Dirty Mac · 2 years ago

Alphie could have dictated that post to a typist and then mailed it to Mr. Wilkinson. Instead he participated in the destruction of typing jobs (not to mention adverse impact on our noble public servants at the USPS). Certainly, Alphie would get as much personal utility from hiring a typist, dictating a letter, and then walking to the mailbox as he would as he would from taking two minutes to post on a website. To create more jobs, Mr. Wilkinson could then hire someone to read the incoming letters to him.

What of middle class Americans with families to feed acquiring the skills needed to increase their income when their job gets replaced by a machine? Do we have a definition of Libertarianism here? Or does technology lack the appeal of the yellow peril?

The Dirty Mac · 2 years ago

I just had occasion to visit Alphie's blog. If all such blogs were prepared using calligraphers and then hand delivered, think of the jobs that would be created. IOW, Alphie's productivity would plummet but more labor could be expended.

Dills · 2 years ago

Alphie should outsource his cognitive faculties -- he'll be creating jobs and, with any luck, he'll actually be able to understand the content of the post.

berger · 2 years ago

I guess I agree with your specific response to Ross but here's where you lose me on your larger argument:

"Many people will surely be temporarily upset when the shifting incentives of the global market upset their usual patterns of work and life, very much as people in the Rustbelt were upset by the process of deindustrialization."

Is this really the analogy you want to use here? First of all, the rustbelt hasn't recovered!! There has been no upswing nor is there any prospect of one. Second of all, you can already see some (albeit small) signs of populism ther - the election of Sherrod Brown being the most glaring.
Lastly, yes, when people become interested in making government bigger in order to effect large welfare programs you have populism. Are you being deliberately obtuse here or what?

Jasper · 2 years ago

"I think lots of firms will be seeking less-expensive foreign labor, that this will have a significant effect on the jobs available to Americans, but also on the price of many goods and services (down) and on the incentives to acquire new and/or improved skills (stronger)."

Although I don't disagree with any of this, and although I'm a committed fan of globalization, I'm skeptical that a government guarantee of health insurance, say, or a dollop of wage replacement insurance for those too old to make the transition into a new career would do all THAT much to blunt the incentives to upgrade skills. Moreover, I'm increasingly convinced that lack of health/economic security is exerting at least some negative impact on the ability of Americans to fully partake of the so-called "Ebay economy."

I guess what I'm saying is that I suspect to a substantial degree we can have our cake and it eat it, too: Sam's Club protections combined with Brave New Economy opportunities and efficiency. I reject the notion that we must choose either/or because it least appears to my eyes that a number of other places (New Zealand? Ireland? Canada?) are rejecting this false choice to their great benefit.