tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post3745473736078884908..comments2024-03-06T06:34:42.881-05:00Comments on EconoSpeak: The Iatrogenic and Incoherent "Theory" of FlexibilityUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-9039502646511609672016-06-21T18:45:37.977-04:002016-06-21T18:45:37.977-04:00What? You haven't memorized the complete works...What? You haven't memorized the complete works by heart? I may have to report you to the political correctness section chief!Sandwichmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11159060882083015637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-18815467102951979942016-06-21T17:55:37.373-04:002016-06-21T17:55:37.373-04:00Maybe so. I am not in Harrisonburg, indeed not ev...Maybe so. I am not in Harrisonburg, indeed not even in the US, so away from my usual sources and books and all that. Not able to check on this easily.rosserjb@jmu.eduhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09300046915843554101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-21427145714968515522016-06-21T17:35:43.839-04:002016-06-21T17:35:43.839-04:00Actually, Barkley, IIRC, Marx does somewhere refer...Actually, Barkley, IIRC, Marx does somewhere refers simply to a reserve of the unemployed, without the military allusion.Sandwichmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11159060882083015637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-54562859386173210782016-06-21T17:30:58.094-04:002016-06-21T17:30:58.094-04:00"workers are better able to demand wage incre..."workers are better able to demand wage increases when labor markets are tight"<br /><br />Absolutely. <br /><br />...and what follows from that DEPENDS on a whole slough of other factors. So Uncle Milton dives head first into a lump o' every-thing-but-teh-labor fallacy. And the flock follows obediently.Sandwichmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11159060882083015637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-40522184674900927302016-06-21T17:30:09.435-04:002016-06-21T17:30:09.435-04:00Ooops, reserve ARMY of the unemployed...Ooops, reserve ARMY of the unemployed...rosserjb@jmu.eduhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09300046915843554101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-62129739349046553912016-06-21T15:56:54.024-04:002016-06-21T15:56:54.024-04:00Farce indeed but a 20-1 lopsidedly influential far...Farce indeed but a 20-1 lopsidedly influential farce. Sandwichmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11159060882083015637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-29001322075784663962016-06-21T15:54:26.921-04:002016-06-21T15:54:26.921-04:00While the theory is somewhat sloppy, it certainly ...While the theory is somewhat sloppy, it certainly has long been argued that workers are better able to demand wage increases when labor markets are tight, that is, when unemployment is low, and less able to do so when unemployment is high, a point made by Marx a long time ago with his concept of the role of the reserve of the unemployed. So, there is indeed a reasonable argument for the original Phillips Curve, which posed a negative relationship between unemployment and wage increases. Obviously correcting for labor productivity increases, the latter is highly correlated with inflation, which led to the Samuelson-Solow formulation. Of course Phillips did see his relation holding for his variables over a several decade period preceding his study from the 1950s.rosserjb@jmu.eduhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09300046915843554101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-66957395460938264312016-06-21T15:45:48.489-04:002016-06-21T15:45:48.489-04:00Even if one allows for a conditional short run nat...Even if one allows for a conditional short run natural rate of unemployment (what would result at a given point in time if "macroeconomic policy is neutral"), there has never been any reason for identifying it with any NAIRU, if such is at all meaningful. Of course it is standard textbook stuff that the natural rate of unemployment is not a short run conditional concept, but a long run one that the economy eventually must go to, and it is also the NAIRU. This is all such a farce.<br /> rosserjb@jmu.eduhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09300046915843554101noreply@blogger.com