[PEN-L:11114] Re: New Book/Shameless Self-Promotion
At 11:33 AM 7/2/97 -0700, Bob Pollin wrote: > Coordinates for the U. of Michigan Press are: P.O. Box 1104, Ann Arbor, >MI 48106, 313-764-4392. Credit card buyers in U.S. and Canada can order >through fax at 800-876-1922; international fax orders are through >313-936-0456. The book is also available via Amazon.com on the web. > >--Bob Pollin What's the price? Cheers, ajit sinha
[PEN-L:11113] Day of Action on Workfare
For those groups which have been or are interested in working on workfare/welfare reform issues, you may want to know that -- Jobs With Justice is discussing a national day of action on workfare/welfare reform in December (date not finalized). The three themes of the proposed day of action are: 1. Jobs: the real issue is the need to create good jobs 2. Workers rights: destroying public sector jobs or creating exploitative workfare jobs is not reform 3. Justice: we cannot allow greedy corporations to profit from the dismantling of the safety net (privatization of welfare services). Jobs With Justice will be holding its annual conference in Chicago, October 24-26. For more info about JWJ check the web page: www.igc.apc.org/jwj For more info on Phoenix JWJ check our web page: amug.org/~aenglish/cazjwj.html -Andy English Phoenix AZ
[PEN-L:11112] speaking of inheritance...
In doing my book, I reviewed some of the literature estimating the share of U.S. personal wealth that was the result of inheritance. As you might imagine, good numbers are hard to come by. Modigliani, in trying to rescue the LCH, tried to minimize inheritance's share by treating income earned on inheritances as a form of fresh saving. Most other estimates start at 50%, and reasonble ones go up to 75% and beyond. Kotlikoff & Summers say 80%. Doug
[PEN-L:11111] Re: Inheritance taxes
Andrew Carnegie in his Gospel of Wealth recommended inheritance taxes as the best sort of taxation. Well, Schumpeter was never that good a business anyway. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 916-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:11110] inheritance taxes
I don't know the history of the economics of inheritance taxes, but consider what the life-cycle hypothesis (LCH) says about it. First, a proportional tax on inheritance (say 50%) is imposed (where none existed) and people want to leave a fixed amount of "bequests" to their scions, that would encourage people to double their saving. Lowering the estate tax rate would reduce the incentive to save! (Keynesians might favor this policy, because it would stimulate effective demand.) Second, those who inherit wealth would have little incentive to save. In fact, if inherited wealth > desired bequests, that might completely cancel out the life-cycle saving from labor income. (If inherited wealth = desired bequests, all saving is from labor income, for retirement.) I think that one of the things that prep schools and places like Yale and Harvard to is to teach rich people not to dip into capital, so that desired bequests do not exceed inherited wealth. Of course, sometimes they fail. The textbook presentation of the LCH leaves out the interest and dividends that accumulate from the inherited wealth. Bringing them in, one might decide to preserve the inherited wealth for future generations while consuming the interest and dividends. The existence of those interest and dividends in my retirement years would undermine my incentive to save from labor income (just as the presence of the social security pension plan allegedly does). Fourth, getting a bit beyond the LCH, which takes labor income as given, inherited wealth undermines the incentive to work. (For some unknown reason, the Labor Economics books never point this out, whereas the disincentive effect of "welfare" payments is stressed.) If I were to inherit a billion dollars, why couldn't I and my wife just spend it over the next 30 years (which is what I assume remains of our lives) at a rate of $33 million per year (ignoring interest and dividend income)? Or we could spend $20 million per year, leaving quite a tidy sum for the children! Why work at all? (Of course, the rich get their pick of the jobs...) By using birth control, we could make sure that this sum isn't distributed over a large number of kids, so each would get a lot. Of course, if we have fewer children, that might undermine our incentive to leave a large bequest (especially if we worry that their work incentive might be undermined by a legacy), so spend, spend, spend! 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:11109] Inheritance taxes
This is a request for help--does anyone know a good history of various govt attempts to impose or relax inheritance/estate taxes? In his biography of Schumpeter, Wolfgang Stolper notes Schumpeter's warning that inheritance taxes may harm the basic motivatation to create a family position-- "that tendency to accumulate in order *not* to consume". (Quoted on pg. 357 of Joseph Alois Schumpeter: public life of a private man). I am interested as well, then, if there is any treatment of the history of economic thought on inheritance taxes. It seems that Schumpeter, who considered Francis Galton (!) as one of the three greatest sociologists (Vico and Marx being the others), thought it important that ability, as well as wealth, runs in stocks. Thanks in advance, Rakesh Bhandari
[PEN-L:11108] Kerala and Sawicky challenge
perhaps some insight into the sawicky challenge can be gained from the following. according to an article in july/ag resurgence by jay walljasper, which briefly reviews bill mckibben's "hope, human and wild", the indian state of kerala, with per cap annual income of $300, 1/70 of U.S., under the leadership of an anti-globalization left has achieved the following: life expectancy similar to U.S. 100% literacy birth rate similar to U.S. lack of intercommunal strife, tho it is 60/20/20 Hindu/Xian/Muslim they did this by emphasizing redistribution and effective use of available resources rather than traditional growth projects and whoring after footloose capital. Robert Naiman Senior Researcher Public Citizen -- Global Trade Watch 215 Pennsylvania Ave SE Washington, DC 20003 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 202-546-4996 x 302 I try not to write too often but I feel compelled to write on this subject. First of all, my basis for writing on this subject is that I lived in Kerala during the 80s, taught Economics at St Berchman's University in Changanacherry (100-year-old Catholic University), read/write and speak Malayalam, am married to a Malayalee and still have a small house and plot in a small village called Kunnanthannum and have consulted/travelled extensively throughout Kerala with scholars from the Center for Development Studies in Trivanndrum. Further, I was in Kerala when major State Government transitions took place and have had extensive discussions with individuals from CPI, CPI-M, Kerala Congress and Congress-I parties. There is no doubt that some approaches/programs/policies in Kerala represent some unique approaches and results in the context of India and when considering other parts of India where less has been done with much more resources available and less resistance from the Central Government. But I must say, that some of the accounts about Kerala, written by some people--I have talked with some of them--who went on rather sanitized and highly structured tours are highly idealized and even somewhat superficial. It is true that in Kerala and Bengal--the two poorest States of India and where Communist/Socialist forces are strongest-- the levels of literacy are highest, incidences of certain diseases lowest with access to health care greatest etc...but... Those who travel/live in rural areas will still find grossly unequal distributions of land and outright violations of the land reform law-- through consolidated extended family ownership; you will still find sharecropping, usurious interest rates and desperately poor people and conditions; although violence between various religious groups is generally absent or nothing like the levels found in the north, groups like RSS, Aryia Samagyuum, Shiv Sena and Muslim chauvinists are present and active such that religious inter-marriages are rare and forms/levels of religious integration are still somewhat superficial; dowaries--which are formally illegal--are still widely practiced and operate to commodify/degrade women (the darker, less educated, "uglier" or "less reputatble" the family background of the woman the higher the dowry); CPI-M (the most progressive of the various political parties) is not a homogeneous mass and has not been in continuous power since 1957 and CPI-M has had its own internal problems and scandals with the result of being periodically turfed out and replaced by Congress-I which was subsequently turfed out as a result of their own corruption; university slots are allocated 20% for "scheduled caste" people but the top jobs and highest educational opportunities are still going to the non-scheduled caste groups with people in the "scheduled caste(s)" lagging behind and inqualities widening; some foreign investment has been rejected but some of the various State Governments have indeed tried to "whore after" foreign investment but foreign investors have been reluctant to locate because of the perception of a "hostile environment" to foreign investment (high levels of labor militancy, strong unions, Governmental redistribution schemes etc); problems of high unemployment and poverty are exacerbated by "Gulf people" or Malayalees who go abroad, earn high incomes and then return to build large ornate houses, drive up local taxi fares and do little to make buisness/job-generating investments; in the language, village sayings and jokes there is clear evidence that the caste system--or remnants of it--is alive and well; Yes Kerala is a beautiful place and exceptional in the Indian context. However, you well not find some "Island" of Socialism surrounded by a sea of Indian monopoly capitalism. The dominant institutions, paradigms, economic relations and categories, State policies are capitalist to the core with some semi-feudalism surviving in the rural areas. That is just my opinion but I do wish that those who presume to write on Kerala would have actually lived there (prefera
[PEN-L:11107] Kerala and Sawicky challenge
perhaps some insight into the sawicky challenge can be gained from the following. according to an article in july/ag resurgence by jay walljasper, which briefly reviews bill mckibben's "hope, human and wild", the indian state of kerala, with per cap annual income of $300, 1/70 of U.S., under the leadership of an anti-globalization left has achieved the following: life expectancy similar to U.S. 100% literacy birth rate similar to U.S. lack of intercommunal strife, tho it is 60/20/20 Hindu/Xian/Muslim they did this by emphasizing redistribution and effective use of available resources rather than traditional growth projects and whoring after footloose capital. Robert Naiman Senior Researcher Public Citizen -- Global Trade Watch 215 Pennsylvania Ave SE Washington, DC 20003 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 202-546-4996 x 302
[PEN-L:11106] Re: Barbarism
At 01:13 PM 7/2/97 -0700, Stephen E Philion wrote: >Thanks for this post Wojtek. In your comments you seem to want to >disassociate yourself from "this society," but I would not recommend that. >I am part of this society, like many others who strongly oppose this form >of barbarism, and I think it would be far better to associate yourself >with certain parts of American society, namely those of us who are >politicized and possess a social conscience that you should identify with. >I don't identify with the America that allows such barbarism to occur, nor >am I willing to allow it to be defined as "American," even if it is state >sanctioned. etc. >From a rational point of view, I must agree with your position. It is, however, emotionally difficult to try sorting things out when you witness acts of collective barbarism, such as a bunch of hicks cheering an execution or the bombing of an ancient civilisation to the stone age. In the same vein, those who experienced the Staat Pogrom Nacht (aka Kristallnacht) had probably little patience to sort out who was and who was not involved -- their overwhelming desire was probably to pack their things up and leave. I, of course, recognise the fact that acts of collective barbarism, from human sacrifice (aka executions) to lynching mobs, pogroms, and ethnic cleansing have been, for the most part, carefully orchestrated from above, by aristorcrats, industrialists, intellectuals, and government officials -- in a word, by (not-so) "enlightened" elites. It is also my impression, however, that the US may differ from that pattern, beacuse bigotry that fuels this sort of behaviour seems to be reproduced by what is fashionably referred to as "civil society" -- in this particular case, a large network of civic organizations such as KKK, churches, country clubs etc. that socialise people into jingoism, intolerance, and self-righteousness. In most European countries, such networks often set up by the Church, were cracked down by national governments who sought to consolidate their own hegemony in the 18th and 19th centuries. Consequently, most of European bigotry could not survive on its own, they needed a boost from above, the governments and ruling elites. To demonstrate that, contrast Italy and Germany in 1930s, or Yugoslavia in 1990s with the fascist movement (Le Pen) in France. What Italy, Germany and Yugoslavia have in common is lacking from France -- and that is the support of government officials, leading intellectuals, and the media. That difference explains why fascism became dominant movements in Germany, Italy and Yugoslavia, but has been rather marginal in France. In the US, by contrast, the government, the media, and the academe seem to be genuinely striving to keep bigotry at bay (for self-interest rather than altruistic reasons, to be sure, but that is beside the point) -- cf. the federal intervention in racial issues in the South, or the low tolerance of the mainstream media for racism and bigotry. Racism and bigotry seem to thrive outside the mainstream formal institutions -- in churches, country clubs, and numerous fraternal organisations. Consequently, while I certainly agree with your notion of the need for solidarity with those elements that oppose bigotry and kindred forms of collective barbarism, we must also recognise the deep roots bigotry has in this society. regards, wojtek sokolowski institute for policy studies johns hopkins university baltimore, md 21218 [EMAIL PROTECTED] voice: (410) 516-4056 fax: (410) 516-8233
[PEN-L:11105] Re: Capital and the State
Terry McDonough wrote: > While state policy (as a first approximation) is in service of > capital, there is no reason why this should be local capital > exclusively and no necessity the policies pursued should be > nationalist in character. This issue revolves around how one conceptualizes the mechanisms through which capital "controls" the state. I tend to believe that the main route through which capital controls democratic states involves hegemonic processes (Gramscian) that leads the majority (non-capitalists) to internalize the goals of capital. If this is true, then IF international capital is to control national states they must succeed in taking over control of the hegemonic processes with a nation away from purely national capital. This is likely hard to do. The more international capital attempts to do this, the more national capital will tend to organize hegemonic processes around the notion of "our nation versus others". Or, perhaps nationalist thinking is so well ingrained within national cultures due to past hegemonic processes (via a path dependency sort of process) that international capital will likely be unable to overcome this key fact. Perhaps this is one possible reason for the rise of international organizations/structures/quasi-states which international capital can control more directly without getting involved in mucking around with domestic hegemonic processes. Perhaps this is also why these international quasi-state structures tend to be "technocratic" and/or "rule guided" (like WTO) so that democracy (and hence the need for hegemonic processes) does not rear its ugly head at the international level. Eric .. Eric Nilsson Department of Economics California State University San Bernardino, CA 92407 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:11104] Re: Capital and the State
Jim D and Bill B have been discussing the relation of the state and global capital with Bill emphasizing the continuity of the nation state and Jim arguing the possibility of the emergence of global state structures. One possible middle road here is the harnessing of the structures of the nation state in service of global capital. While state policy (as a first approximation) is in service of capital, there is no reason why this should be local capital exclusively and no necessity the policies pursued should be nationalist in character. It is the breakdown of the link between individual capitals and individual states which provides the qualitative change that Bill is asking for, not any delinking of states in general from capital in general. Bill B characterizes the EU and NAFTA as trading blocks, rather than free trade organizations. I used to think this (and gave weekly seminars to auto workers making this argument). It now seems to me that they are primarily regional intensifications of the world wide trade liberalization process. Terry McDonough
