Weekend reading: The “still shoveling out” edition
This is a weekly post we publish on Fridays with links to articles that touch on economic inequality and growth. The first section is a round-up of what Equitable Growth has published this week and the second is work we’re highlighting from elsewhere. We won’t be the first to share these articles, but we hope by taking a look back at the whole week, we can put them in context.
Equitable Growth round-up
U.S. corporations are increasingly holding onto cash—a phenomenon often called the “corporate savings glut.” This is a rapid turnaround from when the corporate sector borrowed from the financial sector. And it may be a worrying sign for the future of economic growth.
Heather Boushey notes the growing influence of feminist economics on policymaking in her inaugural post for the International Association for Feminist Economics blog.
With U.S. wage growth seeming to accelerate, it seems like a good time to return to the question of the Phillips curve. The relationship between inflation and unemployment seems to have shifted in recent decades, mainly because wage growth doesn’t turn into inflation like it used to.
The fall and rise of income and wealth inequality in the United States over the course of the 20th century is well-known by now. New research shows that housing inequality has followed a very similar trend and seems strongly linked to increasing segregation by income.
Links from around the web
“There are times when jumping off a high cliff into the sea below might make sense, but there’s no sense rushing into it when you don’t have to: you run out of options pretty quickly once you’re in the air.” That’s Ryan Avent on the tricky situation the Federal Reserve has put itself in. [free exchange]
One of the Federal Reserve’s concerns at the moment is that expectations of future inflation seem to be on the decline. As Carola Binder points out, the decline in expectations (at least in one survey) is strongest among those with higher incomes. And they’re the ones whose expectations drive inflation the most. [quantitative ease]
The U.S. dollar continues to strengthen as the U.S. economy (relatively) outperforms many of the economies across the world. What does this mean for the U.S. economy and the global economy writ large? Eduardo Porter looks at the positive and negative aspects of the stronger dollar. [nyt]
The phrase “tax haven” usually conjures up images of Swiss bank accounts or shell corporations in the Cayman Islands. But maybe your mental image should now include Reno, Nevada. Jesse Drucker looks at how the United States might be turning into a tax haven. [bloomberg businessweek]
Some economists and analysts have argued that the Federal Reserve could have done more to lessen the blow of the Great Recession. But a recent New York Times op-ed argues that the Fed actually caused the recession by not loosening monetary policy early enough. Mike Konczal finds the argument unpersuasive. [rortybomb]
Friday figure
Figure from “Context may be everything when it comes to the Phillips curve” by Nick Bunker