What, if anything, can be usefully salvaged from the socialist tradition, now that communism lies in final disgrace? Paul Starr argued in these pages last fall that four developments — the implosion of communism, the collapse of efforts to reform communism from within, the failure of socialism in the Third World, and the shift of […]
Economic Policy
Posted inEconomic Policy
The Myth of a Savings Shortage
A precipitous decline in saving during the 1980s? A closer look shows it isn’t so.
Posted inEconomic Policy
Flexibility Trap: The Proliferation of Marginal Jobs
Temporary and part-time jobs may be penny-wise for employers, but pound-foolish for the economy.
Posted inEconomic Policy
Suite Greed
But for the fact that Democrats are now drinking from the same campaign-finance trough as Republicans, the scandal of executive salaries would be a major issue in the 1992 campaign. The scandal has been growing for years, of course, even before the Reagan-Bush greed decade. In 1960, the chief executive of one of America’s 100 […]
Posted inEconomic Policy
Is There a Democratic Economics?
The real issue is not the current downturn, but the fifteen-year decline in living standards. That should be the focus of a reframed debate—and different remedies.
Posted inAmerica and the World
More Like Them?
The Japanese economic system violates many of the basic principles of the Adam Smithian economics. Instead of crying “foul”, maybe we need to learn how and why Japan’s model works.
Posted inEconomic Policy
Confessions of an Airline Deregulator
They were sure deregulation would unleash fierce competition, produce better service, and result in lower prices. Five of six assumptions turned out to be wrong.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Liberalism After Socialism
Some have long wanted to blend socialism and liberalism in a “third way”; that idea is now in ruins. But the alternative to a socialist liberalism need not be conservative. There is a liberalism that is serious, realistic, and where necessary even ra
Posted inWorking in America
The Myth of the Coming Labor Shortage
According to the Department of Labor, the demand for higher skills is rising rapidly, while the “quality” of America’s workforce is declining. Neither assertion is true, but the mythology is steering policymakers in the wrong direction, away from eff
Posted inWorking in America
A New Picture of The American Economy
What really ails the American economy? Many economists blame stalled productivity—without understanding it. A new analysis suggests that prosperity depends on success in key industries significant in international trade.