This is, or should be, an eye-opener for many people interested in the truth about how American prosperity over the last four decades has benefited Americans at different income levels. Truth is more complicated and cheerier than some famous economists would have you believe. 1/
I highly recommend following @EconTalker for his economic wisdom and no-partisan take on the passing scene.
The flaw in various studies conducted by and books/article written by economists like Thomas Picketty and Paul Krugman is invariably the same. 2/
The flaw in various studies conducted by and books/article written by economists like Thomas Picketty and Paul Krugman is invariably the same. 2/
"Rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer" narrative is based on comparing inert, disembodied deciles and quartiles of statistical data across decades, and overlooking the economic well-being of cohorts of actual living, breathing humans over time. 3/
@EconTalker
@EconTalker
Here's my analogy for Pickety's writings on income deciles. It's like saying the stock market is growing more inequitable because:
"The best performing 10% of all stocks outperformed the worst performing 10% by a factor of 50 in 2017 but by a factor of 10 in 1980." 4/
@EconTalker
"The best performing 10% of all stocks outperformed the worst performing 10% by a factor of 50 in 2017 but by a factor of 10 in 1980." 4/
@EconTalker
I made those statistics up for illustration, but even if they were totally accurate, my point is they tell us absolutely nothing about the actual working of the stock market -- good, bad, or ugly. They are interesting but ultimately quite meaningless factoids. 5/x
@EconTalker
@EconTalker
*non-partisan
