Comments for Casey Mulligan and a Trip to the Supply Side at http://www.cepr.net , comment 1 to 10 out of 10 comments http://www.cepr.net Sat, 18 May 2013 08:00:10 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/casey-mulligan-and-a-trip-to-the-supply-side#comment-19379 The link should be [url]http://caseymulligan.blogspot.com/2012/10/marginal-tax-rates-by-age.html[/url]. - TGGP Sun, 07 Oct 2012 13:52:47 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/casey-mulligan-and-a-trip-to-the-supply-side#comment-19378 That first link should go here. - TGGP Sun, 07 Oct 2012 13:48:16 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/casey-mulligan-and-a-trip-to-the-supply-side#comment-19377 I basically agree with Scott Sumner's take (decisions at the Fed resulted in sub-normal NGDP growth, which combined with sticky wages to create unemployment), but figured I should link to Mulligan's response: http://caseymulligan.blogspot.com/2012/10/marginal-tax-rates-by-age.html Since I'm only allowed to post one link, I'll just copy the text of his follow-up post: "Dean Baker claims today that people without children are unlikely to get food stamps: "if they have no children they will probably not [be] eligible for food stamps or other government benefits." I'm not sure what data he's using. Using the USDA's quality control files provided by Mathematica Policy Research, I found that over 5 million non-elderly, non-disabled adults without children were participating in the food stamp program by mid-2010, up from 2 million before the recession began. Perhaps Dr. Baker forgot how the Obama administration stopped requiring Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (USDA officials call them ABAWDs) to be employed if they were receiving food stamps." - TGGP Sun, 07 Oct 2012 13:41:10 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/casey-mulligan-and-a-trip-to-the-supply-side#comment-19368 Its not neoclassical crap...its ask the manager of a landscaping company or other minimum wage hirer how they would react to having to pay $2 more an hour....the answer will be clear....Now maybe the German model, where a morass of regulations forces the government to actually pay firms to hire workers who would otherwise be unemployed makes some sense. But not raising the wage above some unskilled workers marginal value of product. - pete Sun, 07 Oct 2012 06:13:26 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/casey-mulligan-and-a-trip-to-the-supply-side#comment-19356 Pete: [i]Actually the minimum wage, which clearly impacts unskilled younger workers, was raised about 20% during this recession. The last time I looked we have not had a 20% price inflation during this recession.[/i] SO what? Yes, the minimum wage clearly impacts unskilled younger workers - for the good! A minimum wage hike right now would probably [b]INCREASE[/b] employment, [b]LOWER[/b] unemployment. Yes, that doesn't make sense from a neoclassical POV. So what? Neoclassical economics is practically worthless for the real world. (The only time it begins to make sense is after you've applied sensible Keynesian economics!) Minimum wage workers would spend their new money, on other, largely minimum wage workers' employment. Pure win. Workers spend what they get, capitalists get what they spend. So more workers make more money. Capitalists are no worse off, probably better off in a stabler economy. A higher minimum wage can allow a given amount of deficit spending to sustain a higher level of employment. Money. is. not. a. commodity. Money is not a (dilutable) thing. Money is a relationship. A form of debt. - Calgacus Sat, 06 Oct 2012 21:58:58 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/casey-mulligan-and-a-trip-to-the-supply-side#comment-19339 I must admit I tried to follow Professor's Mulligan's word salad, especially his use of a chart that was very hard to decipher. His main argument appears to be that since the working group over age has increased employment over the last five years, that shows that the fall of employment in other age groups is the result of extended unemployment, COBRA benefits, and food stamps. As you point out for teenagers and the working group under age 26, who have never been employed, or not employed long enough to earn unemployment benefits, and who do not have children, this does not even work as correlation. I did not see much response when his blog appeared and he seems to have a book coming out which I am sure Austrians and neo-classicals will celebrate and will be the justification of the Romney/Ryan administration to cut those benefits. - sherparick Fri, 05 Oct 2012 18:18:51 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/casey-mulligan-and-a-trip-to-the-supply-side#comment-19336 How much more generous did these benefits become since a few million of Mulligan's lazy bastards were selfish enough to take jobs and bring the unemployment rate down to 3.7%? Is this clown worth all this effort? His argument is absurd on its face. - urban legend Fri, 05 Oct 2012 16:35:18 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/casey-mulligan-and-a-trip-to-the-supply-side#comment-19329 You're right, of course, but is it worth the effort to go into such detail to show the logical fallacies of Mulligan's mustings? Mulligan lives in an alternate universe where people love being unemployed, living fat off the government hogg, cashing in those incredibly generous welfare checks, going out to fancy meals and paying the bill with their ebt cards before going home to their fancy condos with their flat screen plasma tv's. All paid for of course by us hardworking taxpayers. For someone who lives in this world, do your arguments have any purchase? - f.fursty Fri, 05 Oct 2012 08:54:27 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/casey-mulligan-and-a-trip-to-the-supply-side#comment-19325 The last phase of the minimum wage hike Congress passed in 2007 took effect in July of 2009. Since then inflation would have eroded its real value by around 7.0 percent. That would take it back to roughly the July 2008 level, which preceded any big runup in teen unemployment. - Dean Fri, 05 Oct 2012 07:07:09 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/casey-mulligan-and-a-trip-to-the-supply-side#comment-19321 Actually the minimum wage, which clearly impacts unskilled younger workers, was raised about 20% during this recession. The last time I looked we have not had a 20% price inflation during this recession. - pete Fri, 05 Oct 2012 05:31:41 +0100