The outcomes of public policy throughout the 1900s, particularly pre-Reagan and post-FDR. Quite expansionary, but nearly all of the bedrock institutions most people have come to rely on and take for granted materialized in this period.
- The GI Bill
- Medicare / Medicaid
- Social Security
- Unemployment Insurance
- Regulatory institutions / policies like the SEC, FDIC, OSHA, and the EPA.
- The Civil Rights Act
None of this stuff just happens by accident, and these kinds of things definitely don't magically fall out of unregulated free-markets. And they DEFINITELY don't fall out of markets where the participants are massive corporate interests.
You need institutions whose focus is solely on social / economic wellbeing and who have the power and authority to provide it.
There are also plenty of modern academics, making things up themselves, who articulate similar points.
Perhaps Friedman's most widely known saying is that "inflation is a monetary phenomenon". In the last 30 years the correlation between money supply expansion and inflation has been low. OTOH the correlation between supply shocks and inflation has been high.
A real science would update in the face of contradictory evidence. Some economists have, but most haven't.
We did see massive inflation in subsectors of the broader economy, though, and there were a lot more monetary policy levers moving than just supply expansion.
spicyusername|1 year ago
- The GI Bill
- Medicare / Medicaid
- Social Security
- Unemployment Insurance
- Regulatory institutions / policies like the SEC, FDIC, OSHA, and the EPA.
- The Civil Rights Act
None of this stuff just happens by accident, and these kinds of things definitely don't magically fall out of unregulated free-markets. And they DEFINITELY don't fall out of markets where the participants are massive corporate interests.
You need institutions whose focus is solely on social / economic wellbeing and who have the power and authority to provide it.
There are also plenty of modern academics, making things up themselves, who articulate similar points.
- Joseph Stiglitz
- Thomas Piketty
- Ha-Joon Chang
- Mariana Mazzucato
- Robert Reich
- etc
bryanlarsen|1 year ago
A real science would update in the face of contradictory evidence. Some economists have, but most haven't.
zdragnar|1 year ago