September 24, 2013

I thought low wages were good for the economy?

From the NYT:
ECONOMIC SCENE
To Address Gender Gap, Is It Enough to Lean In?
By EDUARDO PORTER
The gender gap in pay and work force participation harms not only women, but the economy as well.

In general, appeals to something being good for or bad for The Economy have become increasingly divorced from logic and mostly say, hooray for our side.

Stephen Jay Gould was always complaining about reification of IQ. Isn't it time to think about reification of The Economy?

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, low wages for the wrong people is good for the economy.

However, for the right people, only high wages are good for the economy.

Who? Whom?

2Degrees said...

Hi Steve!

Ed West, who was purged from the DT, now writes for the Spectator in the UK. Did you know?

Unknown said...

"Studying survey data on personal well-being, Marianne Bertrand of the University of Chicago found that college-educated mothers with careers were no more satisfied with their lives, and might be less so, than stay-at-home college-educated mothers."

This is the money quote of the whole story, nicely buried in the penultimate graf.

Bob Loblaw said...

People on the left like to say income inequality is bad for the economy, but there's not a shred of evidence for it.

Matthew said...

Not really any different from the constant obsession to improve educational performance: "We need more high school graduates, we need more college graduates! We need skills, skills, skills, people! It's a high tech world and we need more people with skills!" followed the next day, with no sense of irony, with an article lamenting the dearth of unskilled laborers.

Another personal favorite of mine is the contradiction between the business lobby's argument against minimum wage and its argument for amnesty/guestworker programs: raising the minimum wage will kill job growth, but we need to import more cheap labor to fill all these low-wage jobs we're creating that there aren't enough Americans to do.

The multicult left and the business lobby right will keep your head spinning with all the contradictions in their pronouncements, but don't expect the MSM to point it out because they're whores for both.

Anonymous said...

Stephen Jay Gould was always complaining about reification of IQ.

The irony is that Stephen Jay Gould would get very angry if not outright belligerent toward those who suggested that HE was always making a reification about the theory of evolution.




Isn't it time to think about reification of The Economy?


Oh come come now. At THIS late date? Kinda late in the ball game to suggest something such as THAT, don't you think? Of course, if the Tea Party or economic populist grass roots organizations could make some noise in time for '14 midterms....could be interesting. They'd have to get started and soon though if they were to make any headway with the issue.

Besides, Obama's presiding over this glorious economic recovery. Or haven't we all heard the good news? The economy's doing great, just ask him.

PS Pirates clinched first playoff berth since '92. Long time in coming.

Anonymous said...

Eric said...
People on the left like to say income inequality is bad for the economy, but there's not a shred of evidence for it.


All the left would have to do to show their commitment to their ideology of economic equality is to set the example and give up any economic raises and benefits that they may have received over the years. Give it back to the government or to their bosses so they can then hire more entry level employees and thereby help the overall level of employment.

map said...

Steve -

This is a very sad article from Hanna Rosin:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/09/advertisement-for-murder/309435/

Anonymous said...

"The gender gap in pay and work force participation harms not only women, but the economy as well."

It is interesting that when they talk of pay gaps they always assume women will be paid more rather than all workers less.

What about the pay gap between legal and illegal workers? Who is going to fix that and how.

Anonymous said...

If you are a regular reader of the so-called 'quality' British papers, you can rest assured that at least once a week you will see a story claiming that 'women earn X amount less than men'. And it's been like that for past three decades at least.
Anyhow, research has demolished this ad-nauseam claim as an artificat caused by maternity related career breaks.

Waht you will never, ever see in the UK papers are any hints of stories that impact men disproportionately ie unemployment, workplace injury, death and disease or the fact that by and large all the heavy, dangerous and unpleasant jobs are done by men. Or the fact that women more or less monopolize certain soft professions.

Anonymous said...

It is very clear from Suckerberg and the immigration lobby that they know that education does not create the sort of high IQ workers they need.

Why else would they be demanding unlimited immigration?

They get the sort of high IQ workers they need and more consumers of their products.

David said...

Yeah, Louis XIV did pretty well for himself until France mysteriously went bust. (Must have been those lazy peasants and their bad attitudes.)

David said...

>All the left would have to do to show their commitment to their ideology of economic equality is to set the example and give up any economic raises and benefits that they may have received over the years.<

Individual solutions to governmental problems don't work. As useless as asking people who complain about the murder rate to go catch the murderers themselves. If you're going to have a legal system, then it needs to be held accountable for catching the crooks on the streets or in the suites.

Dutch Boy said...

Low pay for the working class is bad because workers are also the principal consumers in a society. If they cannot afford to consume, the producers cannot sell. Capitalist economies have gotten around this conundrum (and their penchant for attempting to keep wages low) with credit, which inevitably leads to the boom and bust cycles that plague capitalism.

Paul Mendez said...

Or the fact that women more or less monopolize certain soft professions.

Women are much more likely to be hired for positions that involve being around small children, touching other people, or potentially seeing people in their underwear. That's why you rarely see male kindergarten teachers, male dental hygienist or male hotel maids

Average Joe said...

I thought low wages were good for the economy?

Only when it is white guys who are getting the low wages.

Anonymous said...

"They get the sort of high IQ workers they need and more consumers of their products." - have they tried selling their products overseas?

Rev. Right said...

Women get paid less because on average, they work in lower paying occupations (e.g. waitress vs. coal miner), they work fewer years, and they work less hours per week.

When you normalize for education, experience, and job function, there is no "gender gap".

The people who cite this injustice know this, it is just another non-problem the culture is supposed to focus its attention on.