Do economists and policymakers speak a different language from US citizens? A new Economic Policy Institute report claim there is "a widening gap between the ways that everyday Americans and influential elites talk about the economy."
The report is Talking Past Each Other: What Everyday Americans Really Think (and Elites Don’t Get) About the Economy (full text available online) by David Kusnet, Lawrence Mishel and Ruy Teixeira. the authors argue there is a 'great disconnect' between elite opinion and the American middle class:
This disconnect is of profound importance. The elites are making and discussing economic policies in an environment in which—though they may not realize it—they are poorly informed about the views of the very people who will be affected by those policies.
This is of particular importance now that a relatively optimistic elite discourse about strong growth in the gross domestic product and other positive macroeconomic indicators coexists with a sharply negative assessment of economic conditions among the public. ...when they talk about economics, everyday Americans and influential elites seem to be describing two very different worlds and speaking two very different dialects.
This report is an effort to begin bridging the gap between everyday Americans’ understandings of economic issues and the official economic discourse. The issues that the people and the policy makers are trying to discuss are too important for them to be talking past each other.
Their conclusion?
If these findings point to a new synthesis about how policy makers should talk about and act upon the economy, it is this: The nation should provide greater economic security to hard working families so that they can make the most of expanded economic opportunity. Now, as in the eras of the Homestead Act and the G.I. Bill, Americans need to stand on a solid foundation so that they can reach for their futures. Policy makers who listen to the people will best be able lead in the years ahead.
The report includes a special section that offers 12 suggestions for how to 'speak American' when talking about economics. An interesting read.
See also a related report, The economic disconnect: How both the Left and the Right get it wrong (PDF) posted online. This is a pre-election report prepared for the EPI by Lake Research Partners based on a survey of 1,044 adults in March 2006 and six focus groups conducted with swing voters in Minneapolis, Columbus and Jacksonville in January. Among the key findings:
• While Americans are dissatisfied with the current state of the economy, neither conservative nor liberal elites speak for them. Conservative elites tout economic growth in the face of rising costs while liberal elites portray the middle class as helpless victims, causing average Americans to see both groups as out of touch.
• Over two thirds of the country view the economy negatively. At the same time, without any coherent, compelling narrative from the Right or the Left, many Americans are short on their own solutions to the economic problems facing the country. The public’s central perspective is of a middle class in decline, badly squeezed between rising costs, reduced benefits, and stagnant earnings. The public holds out little hope for the economy improving any time soon, suggesting that these current problems may reflect a structural change.
• While Americans have not quite discovered the solutions to the country’s economic challenges, they approach this debate with definite bad actors in mind. Americans see a close relationship between corporations and politicians that has created, or at least stoked, a culture of greed in America, threatening our national economy and eroding the middle class. These are the main, though not the only, culprits in explaining the current economy.
• Even while acknowledging the obstacles created by this environment of rising costs and stagnant incomes, the public is optimistic about their own chances for achieving economic stability in the future and see the American dream as a reachable goal.
• Those without a college degree are much less positive about how they are doing and hold much greater resentment toward elites and especially corporations.
• Americans see themselves as largely on their own in the current economy, but they are eager for the government to take on a more active role to help ease their financial burden in areas such as health care, energy and education and support greater regulation of the corporate interests that are seen as contributing to these rising costs.
That seems like ground for economic populism and, alas, protectionism.
Hat tip: Daniel Drezner.
Beyond the rhetoric, there's some truth to this. Vernon Smith repeatedly showed how, in his market experiments, the market reaches its Pareto-optimum but many of the participants report that they think they could have done much better (when in fact they couldn't).
Now regarding the rhetoric itself... "The People Are Complaining" is one of the Left's top 10 hits. Busybodies like the EPI always frame their complaining in a way that makes it look as if they're representing the Little People. But T. Sowell showed us, as back as the late '70s, that poor black families don't ask for handout, they respect themselves more than that. It's middle class liberals who ask in their name.
Does anyone like risk and being constrained by one's income? No. No one likes that. Really. But the public's complaints, where they exists, are an expression of "local nonsatiety", to put it technically, and not an informed view of all costs and benefits involved, including the long run.
Experiment: pool people and ask them if they'd support a 20$ minimum wage, let's say. I think it would give us a better idea about who should align their expectations and ideas with who.
Posted by: Gabriel M. | Thursday, December 28, 2006 at 06:25 PM
TPEO : « This disconnect is of profound importance. The elites are making and discussing economic policies in an environment in which—though they may not realize it—they are poorly informed about the views of the very people who will be affected by those policies. »
It is pleasing to see such discourse but, frankly, after Katrina and the misfeasance of the Bush administration, is it surprising news?
A plutocracy is one in which the wealthy govern and it is unique that, as regards America, they should be elected. What can we expect of people whose values are far displaced from the people they supposedly represent?
I recall, in France, when Valery Giscard D’Estaing was running for President, a reporter asked him a simple question – did he know the price of a subway ticket? Small matter, a subway ticket – but given the number of people who depended upon it in Paris to get to work, not an insignificant cost.
It may be fashionable to say that this gang of raptors currently inhabiting the offices of power in D.C. are plutocrats. Unfortunately, when one investigates the construct of Congress, wealth oozes everywhere. It surely takes money to get elected, and that is the problem. Only the rich can afford it.
In a democracy, a people get the sort of leadership they deserve. If Americans can base their judgement upon what the media tells them, and this seems to be the case by all accounts, then they’ve got the leadership they deserve – one that is moneyed and enjoys power for the fun of it. Why else would they be there? Out of a the misguided belief that by serving themselves they are also serving the American people? Quite possibly.
Are we a lonnnnggggg way from the days of Profiles in Courage.
Posted by: Lafayette | Sunday, January 14, 2007 at 02:58 PM
GM: "Does anyone like risk and being constrained by one's income? No. No one likes that."
No, no one likes that. But, in many advanced societies that is required of its citizens.
If one wishes to believe that constraints to personal financial fulfilment are also a constraint on liberty, it is because one's definition of liberty is perhaps too broad. The flip side of the liberty coin is responsibility.
We all live in a market economy and that given means that we not only have liberties but responsibilities. One of them, it may be concluded, is to assure that inequity in the distribution of income is not so great that too much is amassed at the top and too little at the bottom.
When the pie is growing, the disparity is less sharp. But, when the pie stops growing, it is altogether a different matter.
Inevitably the inequality is a recipe for societal dysfunction. People believe the dictum that the "rich get richer and the poor get poorer", which is often not quite right. But, when they actually see it happening before their very eyes, then they get ruffled.
Just how many Bentleys can one park their garage?
Posted by: Lafayette | Sunday, January 14, 2007 at 03:10 PM
This article is very beautiful, I really get very beyendım text files manually to your health as you travesti very beautiful and I wish you continued success with all respect ..
Thanks for helpful information travesti siteleri you catch up us with your sagol instructional çok explanation.
en iyi travestiler en guzel travesti
travesti
istanbul travestileri
ankara travestileri
izmir travestileri
travestiler
trv
travesti siteleri
travesti video
travesti sex
travesti porno
travesti
travesti
travestiler
travesti
travestiler
sohbet
chat
organik
güncel blog
Posted by: travesti sex | Sunday, May 09, 2010 at 01:06 PM
I think you write good, that picture is also very cool, I like your article, see you next time a new article!
Posted by: replica chanel watches | Friday, October 29, 2010 at 03:43 AM
Admonish your friends privately, but praise them openly.
Posted by: cheap air yeezy | Thursday, November 11, 2010 at 08:27 AM
Çilek sex shop Mağzamızda En Kaliteli sex ürünleri, sex oyuncakları şişme bebek ve erotic shop erotik giyim Ürünlerini Bulabileceğiniz Gibi Ayrıca, penis büyütücü, geciktirici, Bayan Uyarıcı, Ürünlerde Temin Edebilirsiniz. 1994 ten Bu Yana En Kaliteli Orjinal Erotik Ürünlerini Sağlamakta Olan Çilek Erotik Shop ta Tüm Cinsel Ürünleri Bulabilirsiniz
Posted by: Maria | Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 02:55 PM