Friday Movie Night - Alan Blinder on Outsourcing & Robert Reich on Wealth Inequality

 It's Friday Night! Party Time!   Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!

 

First up is a very good lecture on the growing economic inequality in the United States by Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich titled:

How Unequal Can America Get?

Next up:

If you have not read Economist Alan Blinder's paper, How Many Jobs are Offshorable? I recommend it highly. The below talk is discussing these 2004 paper results. (I should note, any of you all who are geeky should enjoy these minor analogies Blinder uses). He kind of punts at the end, claiming after all of the dust has settled the net job loss, assuming equilibrium will be zero but what he does not state....is what the final wages would be. It's wonkish and I recommend following along with his paper. The real key find is how high education and skilled jobs are offshorable. Some conclusions are in about 17 minutes or so of the video.

Blinder Explains His Offshore Outsourcing Assumptions

Meta: 

Comments

Silicon Valley Jobs Vanishing Quarter by Quarter

Blinder's assumptions are shockingly accurate. High-tech companies in Silicon Valley have been replacing very qualified Americans with other-than-software developer positions in the most glaringly outright manner for the last 5 years. It's as though the lack of Bush admin oversight allowed it to happen. Every position from Human Resources to Data Analyst and Project Management has been up for grabs. The companies just make excuses to get rid of the Americans (generally fabricating work issues or just laying off) and hire in low-wage Indians (generally speaking). It's rampant, It's crimminal. And it is killing America.