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Here are some great reads on the topic of extreme wealth inequality

Great piece, with striking figures. In states that raised minimum wages, pay has gone up -- but there has been no effect on the number of jobs.

We've been running an unprecedented natural experiment running for a decade and half. 30 states have raised their minimum wages. 20 have not. What happened to pay? What happened to jobs? The good news is that it's pretty easy to figure out now. Link next post.

Man kan skratta åt @CarlOskar patetiska föreställning om hur man låtsas vara intellektuell genom att köra vispen genom synonymordboken, men vi kan inte ha en minister ansvarig för det psykologiska försvaret som återkommande angriper journalister.

📢 A new framework for incorporating poor-quality employment into global poverty measures. Read the new paper by Kirsten Sehnbruch, Ricardo Nogales and Mauricio Apablaza: link.springer.com/epdf/10.10…

Inequality is widening, the climate crisis is accelerating, and public trust in political institutions is eroding. Join us on 1 July, as @AndyBurnhamGM and @Jayati1609 set out how we deliver a radically better world for both people and planet. 🔗 buff.ly/zQLiCWo

Svenska medier verkar ha en rejäl tolerans för korruption och intressekonflikter. De omfattande kopplingarna mellan politik och välfärdskapital omtalas tex nästan uteslutande på sociala medier.

@DeanBaker13’s ‘The Conservative Nanny State’ destroyed the myth that the right wants a free market society. They just want govt to coddle the rich, not protect the public interest. Still a classic, and still free: deanbaker.net/books/the-cons…

Remote work has substantially increased social isolation, with measurable consequences for mental health 1 in 14 remote workers spent a given workday with no human contact, and workers did not fill that void by socializing more outside of work hours Workers in jobs amenable to remote work experienced substantially larger post-pandemic increases in time spent alone and in psychological distress compared with those whose jobs required physical presence (according to an analysis of 588,000 respondents). Those living alone fared the worst. These findings prompt a broader reframing of what employment provides. Sociologists have long recognized that work structures time, generates shared purpose, sustains social contact, and anchors collective identity. Job loss damages mental health well beyond what income loss alone can explain precisely because work does so much more than pay wages. science.org/doi/10.1126/scie…

Global inequality is declining—but are we measuring it right? Household surveys undercount the richest, and tax data suggests gaps may be wider than reported. Read more: wrld.bg/83zm50Z80ZS

The climate crisis is reshaping economies, societies, and livelihoods—but not everyone bears its costs equally. Our #LSEFestival panel brings together leading academics and practitioners to explore the deep links between climate change and inequality. buff.ly/M3UEeRx

There is now a solid body of evidence showing that internet availability is causing a variety of outcomes that adversely affect democracy The answer may have something to do with platform algorithms, such as curated newsfeeds (e.g., on Facebook) or ranking of posts (e.g., the “for you” feed on X). Algorithms have long been in the sights of researchers and regulators as potential culprits of polarization because of their opacity and their known focus on maximizing user engagement and platform dwell time with little regard for the quality of curated content. science.org/doi/10.1126/scie…

Igår släpptes @alexvoronov och min bok "Den långa bluffen - Myter om Sverige, arbete och invandring". Stort tack till de 216 personer som donerade till Kickstarterkampanjen.. volanteshop.com/bok/den-lang…

Ulf & Birgitta håller på så här eftersom det är fullt naturligt för dem att röra sig mellan politik - lobbyism och näringsliv. De har inga gränser och därför agerar de gränslöst. Moderaterna måste städa upp i lobbyträsket i partiet. aftonbladet.se/a/oEvo8R

Does AI mark the death of creative destruction? Nobel laureate @Ph_Aghion worries that Google, Microsoft, and Amazon could become so dominant in the age of AI that they kill the competitive forces that once enabled their own rise. Together with fellow laureate @baselinescene, he explores that challenge in our next Insider Interview. Subscribe to the PS Longer Reads & Interviews newsletter so you don’t miss it: bit.ly/4v1A0Xz

Food for thought! "Does the Import Invasion Explain the Mysterious Disappearance of Productivity Growth in U.S. Manufacturing?" by Robert J. Gordon and Kenneth Ryu. "Why did U.S. manufacturing productivity stop growing after 2010? Productivity growth disappeared, evaporating from an annual rate of 3.3 percent during 1987-2010 to -0.3 percent from 2010 to 2023. This paper shifts attention from 2010 as the start of the puzzle to a decade earlier when output stopped growing. This cessation of output growth in 2000 is attributed to the invasion of imports that closed domestic plants, destroyed jobs, and squeezed profits. Then followed a chain of causation that ultimately undermined productivity growth – from falling capacity utilization, to lower investment in fixed capital and R&D, and to an erosion of innovation. Beyond the import invasion, the paper identifies a set of handicaps ranging from self-inflicted wounds by private manufacturing firms to a marked reduction in government-funded R&D spending. Corporate funds were diverted from productive investment to share buybacks. Investment was distorted by environmental, health, safety, and fuel economy regulations. Innovation slowed not only because of diminishing returns to R&D, but also because of a decline in public R&D, and a diversion of private R&D from basic science and process improvements to product refinements and brand extensions. Skilled worker shortages have plagued manufacturing for decades in the absence of sufficient public and private investment in vocational training." nber.org/papers/w35285

Most economic arguments start with GDP or inflation and work outward from there. The #GoodLife Agenda starts somewhere simpler: what people actually need in their lives to feel stable, secure, and able to plan ahead. We group that into 4 pillars: trust, costs, income, and time.

In a recent seminar at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, @MikeSav47032563 presented research on analysing the power of global elites in the 2020s. Watch now ⬇️ social.desa.un.org/issues/wo…

Extremely important reason to tax wealth at the top