Wrap Up for July 2016

Lately there's been lots of discussion about the political shift away from left/right ideology to "open" or "closed" mindsets about the world. Yet it seems to be more than this. Perhaps what's at stake is more a matter of becoming open to internal change and redefining work potential, so that nations do not close their doors to one another, and the globalization which still carries tremendous possibility.

Ross Douthat asks, Is cosmopolitanism a myth?

Timothy Taylor highlights vivid details what life was like in the year 1800, via Chapter I, Volume I from Henry Adam's History of the United States.
https://conversableeconomist.blogspot.com/2016/07/trying-to-envision-original-united.html

Thanks to James Pethokoukis for providing a clip of the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, which featured a reenactment of British history and the Industrial Revolution.

This NYT article touches on the problems of Boulder, Colorado in their efforts to keep a local middle class.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/04/business/how-anti-growth-sentiment-reflected-in-zoning-laws-thwarts-equality.html

National Affairs (Eli Lehrer) takes a look at "The Future of Work".

Ryan Nunn argues that the U.S. needs more flexible labor markets.

The growing divide between "mass populations" and "informed publics".

One reason I advocate coordinated group benefits of time value and asset formation to supplement a base wage for low income levels, is the fact that attempts to generate higher wages for these groups often have negative side effects. This Adam Smith Institute article explains how elderly care can be affected, by rising wages for healthcare workers in Britain. A similar problem in the U.S. involves a recent push to mandate more strict qualifications for pre-K, which would only make it more difficult for parents to gain access to childcare.

George Selgin's Monetary Policy Primer, part 6.
http://www.alt-m.org/2016/07/12/monetary-policy-primer-part-6-reserve-deposit-multiplier/

Healthcare needs to become part of a primary market, or a point of wealth origination in terms of time based product. Once this (largely) time based service becomes capable of generating growth on monetary terms, governments can finally breathe easier about their long term budget needs. From Timothy Taylor:

...healthcare spending is at the heart of the distressing forecasts for where federal borrowing is headed in the long term. It's not novel to say, but still worth pointing out, that higher healthcare spending is already crowding out other government at both the state and federal level.

As Angela Rachidi stresses, employment is about much more than just wages or income. Fortunately, there are substantial means to address the reasons why people choose not to work, in the present.

From the Washington Post, "Health care spending is projected to grow much faster than the economy."

Will Wilkinson at Vox: "Bernie Sanders is right the economy is rigged. He's dead wrong about why."

Thanks to Gavin Kennedy for pointing out this Evonomics article:
http://evonomics.com/failed-economics-tyranny-of-mathematics-enslaved-wrong-theory/

In a recent post, "Tech for Housing", Jeff Fong at Market Urbanism also highlighted a popular article from 2014 regarding San Francisco's housing crisis.

Scott Sumner offers a clear explanation of the rationale for NGDP futures markets, in this post.

A sad saga of building highways through cities, instead of around them.

"In placing greater weight on the global economy, Lael Brainard, a Fed governor, has argued that the Fed needs to consider the impact of its decisions on other countries."
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/26/business/lael-brainard-donning-a-global-lens-champions-low-rates-at-fed.html?_r=0

JP Koning questions the value of helicopter money in this post.

Unfortunately, YIMBYs have a long way to go, in terms of organizational capacity.

James Alexander highlights a WSJ interview with Governor Daniel Tarullo, and for good reason: https://thefaintofheart.wordpress.com/2016/07/27/daniel-tarullo-the-feds-market-monetarist/

The Economist talks about the new divide: http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21702748-new-divide-rich-countries-not-between-left-and-right-between-open-and

"Most people do not want their values to be tolerated - they want their values to prevail." https://fee.org/articles/the-nationalist-socialist-moment/?mc_cid=dc2fd930f6&mc_eid=6aa86d7108

Bonnie Carr addresses a recent Bloomberg post from Noah Smith:
https://dajeeps.wordpress.com/2016/07/31/noah-smith-higher-inflation-target-not-ngdp/