Category Archives: The dismal science

Republicans Are Being Mean to the IRS, Not That the Democrats Are Helping

It may seem peculiar to offer a defense of sort to the IRS, since most people here regard doing their taxes with even less enthusiasm than a visit to the dentist (although attitudes depend very much on the state of one’s finances and teeth). However, the reporting on the Democratic Party plan to increase IRS […]

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Striking a Bargain: Narrative Identification of Wage Bargaining Shocks

Workers and employers bargain over the surplus income generated by an employment relationship. This column uses information about key events in Germany relevant for wage negotiations, like labour strikes and the introduction of a minimum wage, to pinpoint changes in bargaining power between workers and employers. It finds that such wage bargaining ‘shocks’ are important drivers of unemployment and inflation and that their effect on wages is almost fully reflected in prices. Furthermore, they reduce the vacancy rate and increase firms’ profits and the labour share of income in the short run, but not in the long run.

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Michael Hudson on Finance Capitalism’s Self-Destructive Nature

Michael Hudson rings the changes on a favorite theme: the differences between the financial capitalism and industrial capitalism systems

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