James Parisot (Temple): The Two Hundred and Fifty Year Transition: How the American Empire Became Capitalist. Jeremy K. Kessler (Columbia): The Political Economy of "Constitutional Political Economy". The good times are gone forever: James Livingston reviews An Extraordinary Time: The End of the Postwar Boom and the Return of the Ordinary Economy by Marc Levinson. C.J. Polychroniou interviews Ha-Joon Chang on exposing the myths of neoliberal capitalism. The IMF confirms that "trickle-down" economics is, indeed, a joke — like, a literal joke. Jonathan Baker on market power in the U.S. economy today. Kevin Carty reviews Democracy Against Domination by K. Sabeel Rahman.
Michael C George (Harvard): European America: The Effect of Underreported Transfer Benefits on Analysis of Subnational Poverty. Ingvild Almas, Alexander W. Cappelen, and Bertil Tungodden (NHH): Cutthroat Capitalism versus Cuddly Socialism: Are Americans More Meritocratic and Efficiency-Seeking than Scandinavians? Russia to our right: Trump's entanglement with Russia will pull the United States even further away from providing basic welfare. Laziness isn't why people are poor — and iPhones aren't why they lack health care. Tracy Jan on the GOP poverty agenda, decoded.
The US protects its wealthy professionals financially while throwing workers to the wolves: Mark Karlin interviews Dean Baker, author of Rigged: How Globalization and the Rules of the Modern Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer. Income share for the bottom 50% of Americans is "collapsing", new Piketty research finds. The US has a lot of money, but it does not look like a developed country. Rubber and heroin in a dying city: In Akron, Ohio, the Goodyear sign tells a story of lost jobs and lost hope. Getting ahead in the city is hard — in rural America, it's even harder.
New research identifies a "sea of despair" among white, working-class Americans. Is it better to be poor in Bangladesh or the Mississippi Delta? Annie Lowrey interviews Angus Deaton on extreme poverty, opioid addiction, Trump voters, robots, and rent-seeking (and more). Trump's populist mirage: Trump promised to revitalize the blighted heartland — his policies will punish them. The politics of J. D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy are already being used to gut the working poor. How to save coal country: Forget Donald Trump's promises to bring back mining jobs — there's a new economic strategy at work in Appalachia.
David S. Miller on how Donald Trump can keep his campaign promises, grow the economy, cut tax rates, repatriate offshore earnings, reduce income inequality, keep jobs in the United States, and reduce the deficit. Trump promised 4 percent growth — here's why we'd be very lucky to hit 3. Larry Summers on the economy under Trump: Plan for the worst. Obama's economy didn't elect Trump — but it might reelect him.
