[PEN-L:9519] FW: BLS Daily Report
BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 1997 RELEASED TODAY: CPI -- On a seasonally adjusted basis, the CPI-U rose 0.1 percent in March, following an increase of 0.3 percent in February. The food index, which advanced 0.3 percent in February, was unchanged in March The energy index registered its first decrease since August Excluding food and energy, the CPI-U rose 0.2 percent, the same as in February. Airline fares increased 4.5 percent in March, following declines of 3.2 and 2.6 percent in January and February, respectively. This advance was essentially offset by a downturn in the index for apparel and upkeep and a smaller increase in shelter costs REAL EARNINGS -- Real average weekly earnings increased by 0.1 percent from February to March after seasonal adjustment, according to preliminary data. This gain was due to a 0.4 percent increase in average hourly earnings. The rise was offset by a 0.3 percent decrease in average weekly hours and a 0.1 percent increase in the CPI-W From March 1996 to March 1997, real average weekly earnings grew by 2.6 percent Three-quarters of manufacturing recruiters surveyed by the American Management Association say it takes longer or far longer than it did three years ago to fill professional and technical jobs. Fewer than one in 10 say job searches are shorter. Search budgets, too, have climbed (Wall Street Journal, "Work Week" column, page A1). Company managers are trying to rebuild their credibility with employees in the wake of drastic changes in the business environment that have eroded loyalty and morale, according to a Conference Board report. Nearly two-thirds of the 92 company managers the board surveyed in the U.S. and Europe reported that once-familiar paternalistic relationships that offered job security in exchange for employee loyalty are a thing of the past. A similar proportion said they are faced with a "reservoir of mistrust that has built up during years of upheaval and restructuring in business" Skills and performance are replacing dedication and loyalty as conditions for continued employment, but companies find it difficult to create a new work environment that will motivate employees and spur productivity, the report suggests Nearly two-third of the survey respondents reported revamping or strengthening their communication efforts to emphasize changes in the employment relationship (Daily Labor Report, page A-4). __Doctors across the country are using a new strategy in their increasingly bitter battle against the managed care industry. They are unionizing More doctors are becoming salaried employees of hospitals, large groups, and other health care providers; 45.4 percent were salaried employees in 1995, compared with 24.2 percent in 1983. In 1975, 15,000 doctors and dentists were in unions; in 1995, 44,000 were (USA Today, page 3A). __Graduate assistants at the University of Illinois say they're employees and want a union. The University says they are students, and their jobs are part of their education About 20,000 of the nation's estimated 100,000 graduate assistants are part of unions on a dozen campuses, and at least eight campuses are working toward unionization, says the Coalition of Graduate Employee Unions. Several trends have converged to create conditions for a resurgence of interest in unions: Graduate students take longer to earn degrees and more enter graduate programs at a later age. Those factors make health care needs especially important, yet many colleges offer only student benefits designed for undergraduates. One way universities can keep costs down is to assign more responsibility to graduate students and adjunct faculty, while also reducing full-time faculty. The Internet has created enormous potential for graduate assistants around the country to support one another and share ideas (USA Today, page 8D).
[PEN-L:9522] Re: neo-liberalism question
People have adopted the term neoliberal because they're unwilling to or afraid of talking about capitalism. I first became aware of this when I was interviewing Mark Ritchie on my radio show. He said, "...neoliberalism - we used to call it capitalism" (The fact that he said this is one of many reasons Mark is an admirable guy.) I interrupted him, saying it was OK to talk about capitalism on my show, but he was obviously out of practice. These days, only George Soros is allowed to criticize capitalism; you can't read it in In These Times, where proprietor Jimmy Weinstein dismisses any anticapitalist writing as "infantile," "insane," and worst of all, "Trotskyist." Doug -- Doug Henwood Left Business Observer 250 W 85 St New York NY 10024-3217 USA +1-212-874-4020 voice +1-212-874-3137 fax email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] web: http://www.panix.com/~dhenwood/LBO_home.html
[PEN-L:9524] neo-liberalism
I always thought that the word "neo-liberalism" was a (perhaps unconscious) effort to deal with the conflicting meanings of the word "liberalism": "liberalism" means "classical liberalism" (laissez-faire) in Europe and most other places, while in the U.S.A., it means "welfare statism." So neo-liberalism is a revival of the classical tradition Europe (like neo-classicism?) and a "new thing" in the US. in pen-l solidarity, Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ. 7900 Loyola Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045-8410 USA 310/338-2948 (daytime, during workweek); FAX: 310/338-1950 "It takes a busload of faith to get by." -- Lou Reed.
[PEN-L:9525] RE: geometric-mean CPI
On Tuesday, April 15, 1997 at 4:15 PM Doug Henwood wrote I've been looking at the cost of living by dividing the prices of certain crucial items by the average wage. The CPI suggests something like a 16% decline in the value of the U.S. real hourly wage since 1973. But the number of workhours required to meet the average household's yearly expenses (from the Consumer Expenditure Survey) rose 40% - implying a loss of 29% in purchasing power. To buy the average new car, workhours were up 51%. The average new house, 44. To pay for a year at UCLA (Calif resident), $86%. A year at Yale, 93%. I ran some numbers for you from Jan., 1978 through Jan., 1997, the longest period for which BLS has the required series with integrity. The CPI increased by 154.6% over that period while "Tuition and Other School Fees" increased by 327.7% and "New Vehicles" were up 95.1%. The price of the vehicles increased by 143.9% but this was somewhat mitigated since 33.9% of the increase was considered due to quality improvements. No quality adjustments were made to Tuition. It is somewhat difficult to comment on you numbers without more specific references. However, as I remember it, the decline in the real hourly wage (your 16% is what I remember) refers to the median wage while the Consumer Expenditure Survey results refer to the avenge household. Since the income distribution has gotten much more unequal recently, the average has increased faster than the median. The result is that it takes the median family the income from more work hours to purchase what the average family purchases. Dave Richardson
[PEN-L:9527] Re: neo-liberalism question
Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Doug Henwood [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [PEN-L:9522] Re: neo-liberalism question People have adopted the term neoliberal because they're unwilling to or afraid of talking about capitalism. . . . Gee, I thought I was just being hip to the international scene by using the term. On the real side, I propose that 'neoliberalism' is a special case of capitalism characterized by withering barriers to international trade, falling labor standards, tight money, deficit mania, and intense political pressure on social insurance systems. The sad state of under-developed countries might be included in the list, but I couldn't say whether that situation is much worse than it's ever been. Key causal factors include the disappearance of socialism as a competitor system, increased mobility of capital, and the aging of the population in industrial nations. Since I think neoliberal policies are subject to political reversal by a mobilized, non-revolutionary working class, N-L would not be synonymous with capitalism from my standpoint. As far as Comrade Weinstein is concerned, I wouldn't call it insane to criticize capitalism (or to call it 'wacky'), but I do think the usefulness of the excerise is limited. But then, maybe my definition stems from neoliberalism. In any case, I'm proud of myself for being concise and for not being John Roemer. MBS === Max B. SawickyEconomic Policy Institute [EMAIL PROTECTED] 1660 L Street, NW 202-775-8810 (voice) Ste. 1200 202-775-0819 (fax)Washington, DC 20036 Opinions above do not necessarily reflect the views of anyone associated with the Economic Policy Institute. ===
[PEN-L:9528] Re: neo-liberalism
One thing to keep in mind is that the differences between conservatism and liberalism at different times and places in history had a deep class basis. In Central America, liberalism in the 1890s meant free trade, an end to clerical ownership of land, and other reforms that were associated with the policies of classical liberalism in England. (Ricardo, Mill et al). In places like Costa Rica and Nicaragua, clashes between the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party often broke out into open civil war. Big landowners allied with the Catholic clergy were allied with the first party, while small and medium sized ranchers and coffee producers were allied with the latter. What also happened is that the working-class and the rural poor often threw their lot in with one or the other faction. Sandino's guerrillas fought on behalf of the Liberal cause, even though Sandino himself was an anarchist revolutionary. The civil war in Costa Rica in the 1940s found the Communist Party allied with one bourgeois party and the Socialist Party with the other. Liberalism and conservatism were real differences that could mean financial ruin for one section of the bourgeoisie or another depending on who took power. The reasons these terms are problematic today is that there is not much of a class distinction attached to them. In the United States, there is no section of the bourgeoisie that is genuinely conservative or liberal since there are very few underlying class differences that separate them. That is why Clinton can cause such consternation among his friends at places like the Nation Magazine. They do not understand that there is no class difference between Clinton and Dole. With respect to the term neoliberalism, it probably makes sense to understand it as being roughly synonomous with classical liberalism of the 19th century. Being pro-NAFTA, GATT while being libertarian on social issues such as abortion rights is very much the stuff of 19th century liberalism. Louis Proyect
[PEN-L:9529] RE: geometric-mean CPI
Richardson_D wrote: I ran some numbers for you from Jan., 1978 through Jan., 1997, the longest period for which BLS has the required series with integrity. The CPI increased by 154.6% over that period while "Tuition and Other School Fees" increased by 327.7% and "New Vehicles" were up 95.1%. The price of the vehicles increased by 143.9% but this was somewhat mitigated since 33.9% of the increase was considered due to quality improvements. No quality adjustments were made to Tuition. It is somewhat difficult to comment on you numbers without more specific references. However, as I remember it, the decline in the real hourly wage (your 16% is what I remember) refers to the median wage while the Consumer Expenditure Survey results refer to the avenge household. Since the income distribution has gotten much more unequal recently, the average has increased faster than the median. The result is that it takes the median family the income from more work hours to purchase what the average family purchases. The "new car" series is the "average blended import/domestic" from the trade association formerly known as the Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association, which has a new name that escapes me right now. The "new house" comes from the Census Bureau. My point was not to discredit the BLS's figures by any means. I was saying that by measuring the wage unit against the costs of actual important items, the evidence is that the CPI understates inflation, if anything. Doug -- Doug Henwood Left Business Observer 250 W 85 St New York NY 10024-3217 USA +1-212-874-4020 voice +1-212-874-3137 fax email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] web: http://www.panix.com/~dhenwood/LBO_home.html
[PEN-L:9530] RE: cost of living
Richardson_D wrote: I think that this is the right idea. With resources it should be possible to develop the GPI into a more widely accepted statistic. I understand that the GPI people didn't include education in their index because they think there's no evidence that spending more money improves results. Doug -- Doug Henwood Left Business Observer 250 W 85 St New York NY 10024-3217 USA +1-212-874-4020 voice +1-212-874-3137 fax email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] web: http://www.panix.com/~dhenwood/LBO_home.html
[PEN-L:9534] Re: more linguistic puzzles
If memory serves neoconservative was a label applied to Norman Podhoretz and ilk in the 1980's who were distinguished by fierce anti-communism more than any particular economic program. But conservative is an even more slippery term than liberal. Needless confusion was sown when the Chilean economist Alejandro Foxley published _Latin American Experiments in Neoconservative Economics_ in 1983; its Spanish version, of course, was _Experimentos neoliberales en America Latina_. Foxley must have felt at the time that "neoliberal" would be misunderstood in the anglophone world. Best, Colin
[PEN-L:9536] Re: more linguistic puzzles
Colin Danby wrote: Needless confusion was sown when the Chilean economist Alejandro Foxley published _Latin American Experiments in Neoconservative Economics_ in 1983; its Spanish version, of course, was _Experimentos neoliberales en America Latina_. Foxley must have felt at the time that "neoliberal" would be misunderstood in the anglophone world. Around the same time or shortly beforehand, the expression "ultraliberalism" was used to express the same thing (e.g. Sergio Bitar, "Monetarismo y ultraliberalismo 1973-80, in _Cuadernos de Marcha_, May-June 1980). Jerry
[PEN-L:9535] Re: more linguistic puzzles
Thanks for the Foxley ref. with the neo-conservative/neo-liberal transmutation. The neo-conservatives, such as Podheretz were liberals (sort of) who became conservative. Colin Danby wrote: If memory serves neoconservative was a label applied to Norman Podhoretz and ilk in the 1980's who were distinguished by fierce anti-communism more than any particular economic program. But conservative is an even more slippery term than liberal. Needless confusion was sown when the Chilean economist Alejandro Foxley published _Latin American Experiments in Neoconservative Economics_ in 1983; its Spanish version, of course, was _Experimentos neoliberales en America Latina_. Foxley must have felt at the time that "neoliberal" would be misunderstood in the anglophone world. Best, Colin -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 916-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:9533] Re: taxing games
Because it's pathetic? Because it's tragic-comic? Because if we weren't laughing we'd be crying? Because, this guy's a *Marxist*??!! Why does this make me laugh? It's from that commercial working paper abstracting service that most PEN-Lers seem to hate. Note there's a fee for this paper. Though a few of these are now distributed from web sites, an increasing number of working papers now come with a fee. No doubt this service has encouraged charging for WPs. MIT's fees start at $12. "The Democratic Political Economy of Progressive Income Taxation" BY: JOHN E. ROEMER University of California, Davis Paper ID: UC Davis Working Paper #97-11 Date: March 1997 Contact: Donna Wills Raymond E-Mail: MAILTO:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Postal: Department of Economics, University of California, Davis, CA 95616-8578 Phone:(916) 752-9240 Fax: (916) 752-9382 ERN Ref: PUBLIC:WPS97-154 HARD COPY PAPER REQUESTS: Papers are $3.00 in the U.S. and Canada, $4.00 outside of the U.S. Checks must be payable to "Regents of the University of California" and drawn on U.S. banks. We do not invoice, accept purchase orders, or cash. Requests must be accompanied by payment and mailed to Donna Wills Raymond at the Department of Economics, University of California, Davis, CA 95616. Why do both left and right political parties almost always propose progressive income taxation schemes in political competition? Analysis of this problem has been hindered by the two-dimensionality of the issue space. To give parties a choice over a domain which contains both progressive and regressive policies requires an issue space that is at least two-dimensional. Nash equilibrium between two parties with (complete) preferences over two-dimensional policies fails to exist. I introduce a new equilibrium concept for political games, based on inner-party struggle. A party consists of three factions--reformists, militants, and opportunists: each faction has a complete preference order on policy space, but together they can only agree on a partial order. Inner-party unity equilibrium is defined as Nash equilibrium between two parties, each of which maximizes with respect to its quasi- order. Such equilibria exist in the two-dimensional model, and in them both parties propose progressive income taxation. JEL Classification: D72, H20 Doug -- Doug Henwood Left Business Observer 250 W 85 St New York NY 10024-3217 USA +1-212-874-4020 voice +1-212-874-3137 fax email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] web: http://www.panix.com/~dhenwood/LBO_home.html _ Blair Sandler [EMAIL PROTECTED] Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money. -- Cree Indian saying, circa 1909 _
[PEN-L:9532] more linguistic puzzles
If the term neo-liberal came via Latin America, that makes sense since the term, liberal, seems to have retained its classical meaning. Well then, the next riddle is, why is the expression, neo-conservative, so much like neo-liberal? I still have not heard any confirmation of my second quesiton about the world bank quote. Was I wrong there? Thanks. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 916-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:9531] Genuine Progress Indicator
Doug writes that I understand that the GPI [Genuine Progress Indicator] people didn't include education in their index because they think there's no evidence that spending more money improves results. I don't think so. Rather than starting with real GDP and subtracting or adding to correct for external costs, etc., the GPI starts with personal consumption spending and then adjusts. Personal consumption spending includes spending on education, though not the government subsidies of education (public schools, etc.) The big-ticket education, the part that's suffered from tuition inflation, is counted. BTW, I thought that Dave's throw-away line that there was no adjustment of education prices for quality changes was a riot. at a medium-ticket university, in pen-l solidarity, Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ. 7900 Loyola Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045-8410 USA 310/338-2948 (daytime, during workweek); FAX: 310/338-1950 "It takes a busload of faith to get by." -- Lou Reed.
[PEN-L:9526] RE: cost of living
On Wednesday, April 16, 1997, at 1:34 PM Jim Devine wrote Dave Richardson's recent missive (and an L.A. TIMES column by Robert Kuttner, Dec. 6, 1996) suggests the following: If one wants to measure the cost of living over time, why not divide the nominal consumer spending by the Genuine Progress Indicator, which is supposed to be a measure of the real benefit actually produced by our economy for people. (It's the standard formula for an average price level: money spent/use-value received.) The GPI adjusts real GDP figures for a lot of things such as environmental degradation, etc. I think that this is the right idea. With resources it should be possible to develop the GPI into a more widely accepted statistic. Dave Richardson
[PEN-L:9521] taxing games
Why does this make me laugh? It's from that commercial working paper abstracting service that most PEN-Lers seem to hate. Note there's a fee for this paper. Though a few of these are now distributed from web sites, an increasing number of working papers now come with a fee. No doubt this service has encouraged charging for WPs. MIT's fees start at $12. "The Democratic Political Economy of Progressive Income Taxation" BY: JOHN E. ROEMER University of California, Davis Paper ID: UC Davis Working Paper #97-11 Date: March 1997 Contact: Donna Wills Raymond E-Mail: MAILTO:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Postal: Department of Economics, University of California, Davis, CA 95616-8578 Phone:(916) 752-9240 Fax: (916) 752-9382 ERN Ref: PUBLIC:WPS97-154 HARD COPY PAPER REQUESTS: Papers are $3.00 in the U.S. and Canada, $4.00 outside of the U.S. Checks must be payable to "Regents of the University of California" and drawn on U.S. banks. We do not invoice, accept purchase orders, or cash. Requests must be accompanied by payment and mailed to Donna Wills Raymond at the Department of Economics, University of California, Davis, CA 95616. Why do both left and right political parties almost always propose progressive income taxation schemes in political competition? Analysis of this problem has been hindered by the two-dimensionality of the issue space. To give parties a choice over a domain which contains both progressive and regressive policies requires an issue space that is at least two-dimensional. Nash equilibrium between two parties with (complete) preferences over two-dimensional policies fails to exist. I introduce a new equilibrium concept for political games, based on inner-party struggle. A party consists of three factions--reformists, militants, and opportunists: each faction has a complete preference order on policy space, but together they can only agree on a partial order. Inner-party unity equilibrium is defined as Nash equilibrium between two parties, each of which maximizes with respect to its quasi- order. Such equilibria exist in the two-dimensional model, and in them both parties propose progressive income taxation. JEL Classification: D72, H20 Doug -- Doug Henwood Left Business Observer 250 W 85 St New York NY 10024-3217 USA +1-212-874-4020 voice +1-212-874-3137 fax email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] web: http://www.panix.com/~dhenwood/LBO_home.html
[PEN-L:9517] Re: neo-liberalism question -Reply
From South Africa, same answer as Colin's in reference to etymology. On David's query... How is this paen to market solutions different from what we have been referring to as the 'conservative' laissez-faire perspective? To crudely personify, I think the key difference, at least in the context of lots of economic and social policy debate in the Jo'burg-Pretoria-CapeTown wonk nexus, boils down to the world view of (a) Wasp White English-speaking Capital (culturally conservative and economically laissez-faire) versus that of (b) Yuppie Non-racial New-class technocrat (culturally liberal and liberated, but economically laissez-faire, in a semi-coherent neo-lib blend). But it's not so much versus, as generally in harmony. The versus comes in the form of the (c) residual `verkrampte' Afrikaans-speaking technocrat (culturally reactionary and economically Keynesian) and (d) the Left non-racial soc-dem/populist/socialist technocrats. Current balance of forces in SA policy debates is probably 80% power to the (a-b) alliance, with some rough measure of 15% disruptive (but very rarely proactive) capacity in (d) and maybe 5% sabotage capacity from (c). Each ideological bloc has an equivalent social force, with varying degrees of access to the political system. But the devil is in the policy details, and with help from roving bands of World Bank consultants and the like, and a healthy home-grown compradorist neo-lib cottage industry, most debates are being resolved in favour of those invoking market signals, fiscal constraint, private sector `participation' etc etc. Not to put too much stress on particularity of place though. This also seems like a rough approximation of the global balance of forces.
