...the big challenge that societies and firms need to solve is that of learning collectively, learning in the context of a social network.From the Brookings Institution:
"The Measurement of Output, Prices, and Productivity: What's Changed Since the Boskin Commission?"
Edward Lazear: "Compensation and Incentives in the Workplace"
Incentives especially matter when the targeted output of individuals and groups takes a highly specific form.
And, when might the nature of one's work become integral to incentive structure - whether or not service product is expected to assume a specific form? Greg Kaplan and Sam Schulhofer-Wohl: "The Changing (Dis-)Utility of Work" The authors explore changes in the nonpecuniary costs and benefits of work.
One more on the personal nature of work, alongside related economic considerations. I've been reading "The Reshaping of Everyday Life: 1790-1840" by Jack Larkin. (1989) This early U.S. history is fascinating reading, for everything about our work environments was quickly evolving during these decades.
Mark Lutter for Cato Unbound: "Local Governments are Changing the World"
Will populism disrupt technological gains?
NPR takes note of the housing crisis.
What happens when the retail sales tax becomes a burden?
Sam Bowman makes some valid points about today's centrists.
What accounts for the multifactor productivity slowdown in U.S. manufacture?
Consumer spending has changed considerably from 1901 to 2012. We've been aware of increased housing costs but sometimes forget how much transportation costs have risen. Even though healthcare appears as though somewhat limited at 6.9%, the fact both government and business share this burden as well, helps to explain how today's human capital costs of doing business, is a factor in reduced wages.
Who has time to read economics research articles when they are really long?
How to think about policy questions, if the criterion is to expand individual opportunity?
A wonderful tribute to Nick Rowe from The Economist.
An apt description of a supply chain system that has "grown up to accommodate the variety of goods that we demand, and the speed with which we want them."
When cities lack affordable housing and rural areas appear tempting because of lower housing costs, the relative lack of economic opportunity unfortunately means less incentives to either build new housing, or to restore older housing.
A "grand narrative" draft for Brad Delong's "Slouching Towards Utopia"
"The tragedy of our generation is that our dynamic innovation economy and the most pressing needs of our society are ships passing in the night."
Linda Yueh considers reasons why the Bank of England should target growth.
It could be that Trump's main influence on Fed policy will turn out to be fiscal in nature. Is the Fed already pushing the limits of its floor system?
Will the majority of our efforts in the workplace eventually become "zero-sum"? Better organizational alignment is key for services generation. The purchase of time with time value, could ensure that new wealth would still be generated, and not simply recirculated from other sources.
Even though we know doctors are "too educated", this is not a problem that can be addressed directly, because there are already too many millions of people who need to seek alternatives, both here in the U.S. and in other nations as well.
"Hume modeled a way of life that was gentle, reasonable, amiable: all the things public life now so rarely is."
"Firms create value by managing tensions between competing priorities."
Fungibility as a gradual process.
Of the European contributions to the Great Depression: "The deflation was thus inevitable, but was made much more harmful by its postponement and then abruptness." Scott Sumner and David Glasner also respond.
James Pethokoukis discusses the case for a universal basic income, with Annie Lowrey
How does the loss of the old trend line affect the future?
Sometimes, those who struggle are more motivated by giving advice than by receiving it.
"US exports of goods and services to China in 2016 were $170 billion; but total revenues of US multinationals producing and selling in China that year was twice as high at $345 billion."
Karen Dynan and Louise Sheiner for Brookings: "GDP as a Measure of Economic Well-being"
At the very least, taxing and spending is better than cross-subsidization.
Writing usually involves a lot of work to get the right words on the page!
Ian Hathaway offers a condensed version of "Startup Communities".
The "Malthusian" equilibrium as an "upper limit to returns on labor".
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