tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1331441403058020963.post6272341948784731137..comments2024-03-28T06:49:24.930-04:00Comments on International Political Economy at the University of North Carolina: I Have to Admit It's Getting Gotten BetterThomas Oatleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14092437150746625670noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1331441403058020963.post-44404533627523040162009-08-23T08:06:20.585-04:002009-08-23T08:06:20.585-04:00I don't think it's just normative politica...I don't think it's just normative political economy that is concerned with absolute vs. relative. This misses out the contributions of <a href="http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/cps/index.php?page=2.0.0.40" rel="nofollow">Richard Wilkinson</a> and <a href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/epidemiology/people/marmotm.htm" rel="nofollow">Michael Marmot</a>, who show that relative gains are important in determining the health of societies.randomvariablehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09577108843875067345noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1331441403058020963.post-62221650732748921842009-08-23T07:09:27.982-04:002009-08-23T07:09:27.982-04:00LOL, KW, there is no need to change anything on my...LOL, KW, there is no need to change anything on my behalf. My time frame is from 2000 onwards since I am more interested in recent changes in income and its distribution. <br /><br />I suppose economists are more interested in the long-term picture, but in politics the time frame is shorter. Moreover, I am certain that median income has not improved in the 2000-2009 time frame. <br /><br />Let's see if Obama can do better in the next few years since he's staked his political career on "are you better off now than you were x years ago?"-style rhetoric. I wish him well but let's just say I have my doubts.Emmanuelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04615366847433704476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1331441403058020963.post-29367505304969771972009-08-23T04:42:56.504-04:002009-08-23T04:42:56.504-04:00So I modified the title of the post to reflect my ...So I modified the title of the post to reflect my last paragraph. Better?Kindred Winecoffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14330671232391851377noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1331441403058020963.post-7215273307934796122009-08-23T04:41:31.836-04:002009-08-23T04:41:31.836-04:00Right. That's why it's important to look m...Right. That's why it's important to look more closely what is happening. As the OP notes, a smaller percentage of households earn less than $75k and $35k. Meanwhile, you note that median income has gone down. How could this be? <br /><br />For one thing, he's looking at a 26-year period while you're looking at a 6-year period. Median incomes across all groups increased from 1980-2006. And the greatest growth was gained by black and Hispanic households: the median for black Americans increased by about 25% in 26 years; the median for Hispanics increased by about 20%. <br /><br />Also look at the column second from left: number of households. The total number increased by nearly 40% over the 26-year period. A disproportionate amount of that growth has been in the black and Hispanic segments of the population. These groups have lower incomes overall, so the demographic changes pulled the overall median down. But within-income-group comparisons -- whether in aggregate or separated by ethnicity -- show a clear and consistent upward trend. No one is poorer, everyone is richer.<br /><br />That's good news. <br /><br />Now, the 1980-2000 period was clearly better than the 2000-2006 period. Maybe the trend has changed and we should be less optimistic about the future. I guess time will tell.Kindred Winecoffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14330671232391851377noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1331441403058020963.post-31518789027209211792009-08-23T04:14:24.660-04:002009-08-23T04:14:24.660-04:00??? The data referred to by the blog you link to c...??? The data referred to by the blog you link to clearly indicates that median income fell between 2000 and 2006 for households of each and every ethnicity. <br /><br />OTOH, using <i>average</i> income would show a rise over this period. However, this result is boosted by the presence of top earners.<br /><br />Bottom line: there is no reconciling "getting better" in America with changes in median income.Emmanuelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04615366847433704476noreply@blogger.com