CEPR Economics Seminars
Now on Video!
Couldn't make it to CEPRs fabulous economics seminars
last fall? Know someone who is looking for some background on domestic or
international economic issues?Thanks the Center on Wisconsin Strategy and the Nathan Cummings Foundation you can now watch videos of the seminars for free on your computer! And if you would like to have the seminars for your classes, meetings or to show on public access TV, DVDs are available too (at cost, $65 for a set, plus shipping). All of the videos, as well as the PowerPoint presentations and audio recordings, can be found at http://www.cepr.net/pages/seminars.htm.
Seminar
Descriptions
1) The Basics of Good Economics - Framing the Issues Right (Dean
Baker)Economics is often perceived as something that only people with advanced degrees in the field can and should understand, but economic arguments are often used in confusing or misleading ways in policy debates and in the media. This session provides an introduction to people that want to be able to tell fact from fiction in discussions about the economy. Some of the topics covered are:
- Getting the numbers right - Millions, billions, and trillions, the difference is in the context;
- A rising stock market - As good for the economy as rising corn prices; and
- Name-calling - How to fight back (hint: recognition is the first step - key words, "protectionist," "free trade," "double taxation," "takings").
2) Growth I - Why Economists Worry About It So Much, and Why You Should Too (Dean Baker)
Economists worry a great deal about growth, and for good reason. This session covers concepts related to growth and its importance - including why you should care about it. The session presents basic definitions, and developments in wealthy countries. It also goes over how growth is measured - the gory secrets of gross domestic product (GDP) - including what gets counted (e.g. military spending, jails, pollution control equipment) and what doesn't (household production, crime, pollution).
Links are drawn between growth, jobs, productivity and wages. The experience of Europe is honestly compared to that of the U.S. (More vacation and shorter workweeks mean less growth in Europe - so what?) Finally, we cover how environmental regulations (e.g. the Kyoto agreement) and defense spending slow growth (hint: it's the same way).
3) The Long Slide Down and Apart: U.S. Labor Markets (John Schmitt)
The United States has always been a highly unequal country, but inequality increased particularly sharply between the end of the 1970s and the present. First, we take a look at post-World-War-II trends in three crucial economic distributions -- wages, income, and wealth. Then, we relate the widening economic inequality since the late 1970s to a constellation of concrete economic policies, including macroeconomic policy, a stagnating minimum wage, the assault on U.S. unions, deregulation, privatization, and corporate globalization.
4) Growth II - Growth in the Developing World Over the Last Quarter Century (Mark Weisbrot)
This session looks at the sharp fall-off in economic growth in the vast majority of developing countries, which began 25 years ago. This is probably one of the most important economic phenomena over the last quarter-century, and has been a driving force in electoral changes in Latin America, including Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Uruguay. But despite its tremendous importance, it has received almost no attention in the United States. This session looks at the consequences and possible causes of this economic failure, as well as some of the few development success stories of the last 25 years -- e.g. China.
5) Trade - What Are the Gains and Who Gets Them (Mark Weisbrot)
Standard economic analysis shows that efficiency gains from trade liberalization are much smaller than most people have been led to believe; at the same time developing countries make costly concessions for this trade, and within the U.S. there has been an upward redistribution of income resulting from trade policy. This session looks at who gains and loses from trade policy and how, including:
- The high cost of protectionism - in professional services, intellectual property and other areas where government interventions redistribute income upward; and
- The trade deficit and the overvalued dollar.
6) When Women Get Paid for Work: The Entry of Women to the Paid Labor Market (Heather Boushey)
The latter half of the 20th century saw a significant change in the way that women work. In the 1960s, the majority of mothers worked at home, by the 1990s, the majority was in the paid labor market. This transformation has implications for the labor market, for policy, and for families, both in terms of family economics, as well as family formation and well-being. The movement of women into the labor market was driven both by economic conditions, which pushed women towards paid employment in order to keep their families financially secure (or afloat), and by women's desire for careers and identities other than motherhood. Americans, however, maintain deep ambivalences about working women and especially working mothers; institutions and social practices have not been quick to change to accommodate the new realities of the labor force. This session looks at the implications of these changes for women and American workers generally.
7) Horatio Alger is Dead (Heather Boushey)
One of our most cherished national beliefs is that the United States offers tremendous opportunities for economic mobility, that even the poorest citizens or the most recent immigrants have a chance to make it rich or, at least, acquire their own piece of the "American dream." In fact, economic mobility in the United States has never been that great. International comparisons of economic mobility, for example, consistently demonstrate that European economies offer their poor far better chances of upward mobility than we do. Recent analyses also suggest that the degree of upward mobility has been on the decline since the 1970s. This session explores the realities of class mobility in America today.
8) The Federal Reserve Board - The Most Important Source of Poverty in the United States (Dean Baker)
The Federal Reserve Bank plays a crucial role in the U.S. economy. This session explains how the Fed determines the number of people who get to hold jobs in the United States. We cover the economic myth that kept millions out of work: the non-accelerating inflation rate level of unemployment (NAIRU). We also discuss the Fed and the European Central Bank, including how bankers get to make the European welfare states look bad.
9) Financial Bubbles (Stocks and Housing) and How You Can Protect Yourself Against Them (Dean Baker)
Speculative bubbles have caused enormous distortions in the U.S. and world economy over the past decade. This session explores what bubbles are, and why they happen. Topics include:
- The nineties stock bubble - what caused it, why it was bad, and what could have stopped it;
- The housing bubble - what caused it, why it was bad, and what could put an end to it; and
- How the experts missed the bubbles and the cost of their mistakes (a.k.a. how the Congressional Budget Office over-estimated capital gains tax revenue by $1 trillion).
10) Intellectual Property - Patents, Copyrights, and Other Protectionist Barriers (Dean Baker)
This session covers the role of patents and copyrights - how the government imposes monopolies to provide incentives. We point out the cost of patent monopolies in prescription drugs (@ $150 billion a year, or $2000 for a family of four). The session then examines alternatives to patent financing for prescription drug research (has anyone heard of the National Institutes of Health?). We also point out alternatives to copyrights for supporting music, movies, and software: artistic freedom vouchers (yes, progressives can like vouchers).
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