Warwick Smith

Neo-Robinsonian economist. Castlemaine Institute & @UniMelb SSPS. #WellbeingEconomy, climate, social justice, environment, employment. @warwicksmith.bsky.social

[Warwick Smith @RecoEco]

The @RBAInfo deliberately creates #unemployment to control inflation. Then our employment services system treats the jobless as if they caused their own predicament and don't want to work.

Unfair and unnecessarily cruel. My latest in @ConversationEDU:

https://t.co/31Fb5Ezadz

[Warwick Smith @RecoEco]

@MichaelAArouet This is economically illiterate. There is no contradiction here. Economics can help you understand the consequences of minimum wage rises etc. - then you make a decision based on your values.

[Warwick Smith @RecoEco]

@roberthorrocks @BobKnezevic Yes, that's right. In other words, the government is compensating for the lack of actual mobility through the tax and transfer system.

[Warwick Smith @RecoEco]

@roberthorrocks @BobKnezevic In other words, things have gotten worse since the economy was liberalised under Reagan, Clinton etc. Same trend for the UK since Thatcher. It makes sense right, when you increase "economic freedom", those with wealth and power use it to gain more wealth and power.

[Warwick Smith @RecoEco]

@roberthorrocks @BobKnezevic And this, from the Chicago Fed.

"The U.S. has relatively low rates of intergenerational income mobility, especially when compared with other advanced economies, and mobility appears to have declined since 1980."
https://t.co/KX0pcVHFjD

[Warwick Smith @RecoEco]

@roberthorrocks @BobKnezevic That's a pretty amazing resource. Thanks for sharing. As you say, a very mixed story - but averaged over the country the incomes of the poorest are falling.

[Warwick Smith @RecoEco]

@roberthorrocks @BobKnezevic Thanks, I’ll have a look.

[Warwick Smith @RecoEco]

@roberthorrocks @BobKnezevic playfair-12.png 1,490×1,040 pixels https://t.co/u5Z4CV3goF

https://t.co/kuol8pORfy

[Warwick Smith @RecoEco]

@roberthorrocks @BobKnezevic Every social mobility metric there is ranks the US badly. Of course there are a lot of examples of people doing better than their parents, it’s a big country with a lot of people, but the stats say it’s much harder than most OECD countries.

[Warwick Smith @RecoEco]

@roberthorrocks @BobKnezevic Follows from 3 though - which you conveniently left out.

[Warwick Smith @RecoEco]

@BobKnezevic I'm guessing you think you're arguing against a partisan opponent? Is that why you think this is relevant to the discussion about your other deceptive graph? Just going to keep throwing graphs at me till I surrender?

[Warwick Smith @RecoEco]

@roberthorrocks @BobKnezevic Indeed, and take the weird covid spike out and all the partisan hot air goes out with it.

[Warwick Smith @RecoEco]

@roberthorrocks Ah, nice. Is it good? It's still a mystery why equilibrium theory won out and is so dominant. Well, maybe not a mystery - perhaps just eloquent mathematics?

[Warwick Smith @RecoEco]

I'm here holding up a torch for an arrow that continues from Joan Robinson.

[Matías Vernengo @NakedKeynes]

Short post on the two traditions in the history of economic ideas. The central divide is between classical political economy, reproduction, surplus, accumulation, and the Benthamite/marginalist tradition of utility, exchange, scarcity, and individual choice /1

[Warwick Smith @RecoEco]

@roberthorrocks @BobKnezevic The US is one of the most unequal developed societies. It literally does come at the expense of others. The US also has very low social mobility, meaning it's much harder to "get ahead" if you weren't born rich. The land of opportunity stuff about the US is a lie.

[Warwick Smith @RecoEco]

@BobKnezevic @roberthorrocks Really? It's better to gain wealth, think only of yourself and "get ahead" rather than thinking of and working for your community? That's the politics of envy?

[Warwick Smith @RecoEco]

@roberthorrocks I think you're right. It should at least be two way but if you had to choose one arrow it would be Sraffa -> Keynes. Similar for Robinson - that was definitely a two way influence with Keynes.

[Warwick Smith @RecoEco]

@BobKnezevic I'm not here to defend the government. I get that some people see everything through partisan eyes but that's not everyone. Just because I think your graph is deceptive doesn't mean I'm Labor rusted on and want to leap to their defense.

[Warwick Smith @RecoEco]

@BobKnezevic The other graph chooses a timeframe that creates an exaggerated fall in productivity because of the brief and artificial rise in productivity during COVID. The data are clearly chosen to make things look as bad as possible to anyone who doesn't understand the context and choices.

[Warwick Smith @RecoEco]

@BobKnezevic What’s this got to do with the topic of your other deceptive graph?

[Warwick Smith @RecoEco]

@roberthorrocks @BobKnezevic Getting ahead of what, or of who? What does this term mean and why do we talk of that instead of having a good society?