Created by my team at the Economic Democracy Initiative @EDI_tweets, we feature a map with real-world programs that embody some of the Job Guarantee principles. The site also collects academic papers, books, legislative initiatives, surveys, events, FAQs and other information 2/x
In recent years, the Job Guarantee proposal has attracted global attention. From the UN Report on the JG to the new EU Resolution on Job Creation, to the US Green New Deal Resolution, it's a core policy for full and decent employment, economic security & environmental renewal 3/x
I was honored to offer expert opinion on the proposal to UN Special Rapporteur @DeSchutterO and participate in the launch of the report at the @un_hrc this summer. The report highlights the program’s key anti-poverty and stabilizing features, especially for developing nations 4/x
The largest job guarantee programs in recent history can be found in the developing world. Our JG map features programs such as India’s MGNREGA, South Africa’s Employment Stimulus and Expanded Public Works Programs, and many other JG-like programs (past or present) 5/x
Developed nations need a Job Guarantee too. Labor markets may be tight compared to recent history, but slack remains in many regions and living wages are out of reach for many workers.
Times of relative economic stability are ideal for implementing the program 6/x
With permission, we’ve included another excellent resource: the @LivingNewDeal map, which to this day serves as a great model for a job guarantee and documents the rich legacy of public service projects in the US. 7/x
In Europe, the JG has been included in various legislative efforts. Last year MEP @AuroreLalucq and I wrote a proposal for a Job Guarantee for Europe. It informed the relevant sections of the European Resolution on Job Creation that include the JG. 8/x
Our proposal highlighted the French Zero Long Term Unemployment areas as a model for Europe. The JG map features @ZeroChomeurLD, whose success w/ 10 experimental areas led to its expansion to all areas in France. The program has been central to policy efforts across Europe 9/x
The Austrian Job Guarantee pilot is especially important for the European context. Thanks to the careful design and evaluation by @LukasLehner_ and @maxkasy, this program has shown superior results to previous jobs program in Austria (e.g., Aktion) 10/x
Our website includes surveys showing the overwhelming popularity of the Job Guarantee proposal (which we will continue to update) 11/x
And we have a vast collection of academic research and policy papers on the Job Guarantee. Over 50 books and 300+ articles and growing. 12/x
I am pleased to say that my own book The Case for a Job Guarantee has now been published in 9 languages, most recently in Chinese 13/x pavlina-tcherneva.net/the-case-for-a…
We are grateful to our many collaborators and partners who have made the Job Guarantee central to their work.
Please send us any JG-related scholarship, news, events, or legislative work for inclusion in this resource.
🧵I'm pleased to launch a new symposium on Post-Neoliberalism in collaboration with @AAzmanova.
We feature inaugural pieces by Ian Shapiro, @RBReich, @rodrikdani & James Galbraith.
Our project explores two forces that reproduce the neoliberal paradigm: 1/x postneoliberalism.org
1) We focus on precarity as a fundamental force that reproduces the neoliberal economy. We consider illiberalism to be a consolidation of neoliberalism (not evidence of its crisis), largely because liberal democracy has failed to address the question of economic insecurity
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2) We explore the “whatever-it-takes” financing paradigm which uses public money to resuscitate financial markets, profits & investment (often of firms with predatory pricing & labor practices) but fail to secure full employment, the social safety-net, or the green transition
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Despite impressive job growth, labor market slack remains.
The employment level continues to flatline (total and prime age) edi.bard.edu/research/notes/
Labor market flows indicate a slowdown.
We watch a few ratios that tell us the distribution of who gets jobs:
fewer people who were outside the labor force and slightly more who were officially unemployed (this ratio dipped for the first time in 2 years)
The New Deal projects employed millions of people, even if not enough relative to need.
They made a real impact on those who found employment, the economy, and left a lasting legacy.
In just a few short years, they built (a partial list):
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Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-1942:
2.3 billion trees planted
2,500 cabins built in state & national parks & forests 6.4 million man-days fighting forest fires
68,000 miles of new firebreaks constructed
1 billion fish stocked in lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams
Public Works Administration, 1933-1939:
212 dams and canals
894 sewage disposal plants
384 airports
698 college buildings
406 post offices
Heterodoxy has long criticized the NAIRU and the natural rate, but has not mounted a robust challenge for lack of a clearly articulated policy alternative that can secure full employment without compromising price stability.
MMT has such a proposal.
The federal Job Guarantee
As an anti-cyclical economic stabilizer JG creates employment when it's needed most: downturns. As permanent policy it tackles pandemic, structural, climate related job losses.
JG is self-limiting. It shrinks when other parts of the economy furnish their share of well-paying jobs
The anti-cyclical feature of JG is widely misunderstood. It's not counter-cyclical b/c govt is hiring/firing people, but because the PRIVATE sector is. So long as there's any cycle to private sector activity, the employment safety net will be stabilizing, REDUCING the cyclicality
Lots to like in the #InfrastructureBill, esp that public investment is back.
For me, the Q is always about scale & direction.
E.g.
-US school bus fleet 480,000
-Cost per bus $100,000-$300,000 (electric cost more)
-Fleet replacement cost $48b-$144b +
-Infrastructure bill: $7.5b🧵
Allocation to address inequities from gentrification and the highway system: $1b
That's approx what it costs to build 100-200miles of highway. I.e., a very small amount to redress decades of legacy investments in an interstate hwy system that ripped through many communities.
$1.25b appropriated for Appalachian Development to connect remote communities from 13 Appalachian states from NY to AL. Given above hwy building costs, you know that funding is a drop in the bucket, given objectives.
There was a recent exchange on whether MMT prescribes a certain size deficit. As @KarlWiderquist argues here, the answer is no. But I would go even further.
MMT does not prescribe or aim to estimate a specific size of 'desirable' govt deficit for several reasons.
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The deficit is not under govt's control. Govt can appropriate budgets, but cannot control actual spending. Some line items are automatic. Govt can set tax rates, but cannot control size of tax collections. They are endogenously determined by changing incomes, profits, etc.
Deficit are countercyclical and must change with conditions. Goal is to design effective automatic stabilizers, not hit a specific deficit size in any given accounting period.