Everyone is uneasy about the electoral victory of Syriza in Greece and the threat of populism in Europe. The media has been buzzing for days now with comments and analysis, largely talking about what Syriza should do, what should be done by the European Union, Germany, the International Monetary Fund… the consequences of the policies […]
How an increase in minimum wage backfires on the poor
Income inequality has increased in practically every industrialized nation in recent decades. The best measure of that change is the Gini index, named after the Italian statistician Corrado Gini, who designed it in 1912. The index values vary between zero, when everyone has exactly the same income, and 1, when one person has all of […]
Financial Crisis: Can “It” Happen Again?
“Can ‘It’ Happen Again?” Such was the title of a well-known paper written by economist Hyman Minsky in 1982. “It” referred to financial crises. His answer at the time was in the affirmative. And so it remains today. The crisis that started in August 2007 has affected economies in different ways and in different degrees. […]
Chilean Elections and Social Inequality
Last month I went to Chile to vote in the national presidential election held on Nov 17. This was the second time that I voted in my country. The previous one was years ago, when Pinochet asked Chileans to vote “yes” or “no” as to whether they supported his brutal regime against the United Nations’ […]
Will Labor in the Euro Periphery Soon Be Cheaper than in Eastern Europe?
Every now and then reports on falling hourly labor costs in euro periphery countries surface and make newspaper headlines. Headlines sometimes express falling labor costs as good news, and other times as bad news, depending on who does the interpreting. Falling labor costs may be considered good news because they indicate that it is cheaper […]