Book Bits | 4 March 2017

● The Complacent Class: The Self-Defeating Quest for the American Dream
By Tyler Cowen
Q&A with author via NPR
In a new book, The Complacent Class, economist Tyler Cowen argues that the United States is standing still. People have grown more risk averse and are reluctant to switch jobs or move to another state, he says, and the desire to innovate — to grow and change — has gone away. In an interview with NPR’s Rachel Martin, Cowen says he’s worried that more and more communities are self-segregating — by income, education or race.
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Book Bits | 25 February 2017

● The Vanishing Middle Class: Prejudice and Power in a Dual Economy
By Peter Temin
Summary via publisher (MIT Press)
The United States is becoming a nation of rich and poor, with few families in the middle. In this book, MIT economist Peter Temin offers an illuminating way to look at the vanishing middle class. Temin argues that American history and politics, particularly slavery and its aftermath, play an important part in the widening gap between rich and poor. Temin employs a well-known, simple model of a dual economy to examine the dynamics of the rich/poor divide in America, and outlines ways to work toward greater equality so that America will no longer have one economy for the rich and one for the poor.
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Trumponomics vs. Economic Forecasts

Economic forecasting that’s largely informed by politics is a treacherous affair, but it may be unavoidable in the current climate. If you’re a Donald Trump supporter there’s a good chance that you’re anticipating stronger US growth. But if you voted for someone else last November, it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that you’re skeptical that a dramatic acceleration in the economic trend is near.
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