Difference between revisions of "Reviews of "The Great Stagnation""
From Critiques Of Libertarianism
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[[Category:Infamous Libertarian Research]] | [[Category:Infamous Libertarian Research]] | ||
{{DES | des = [[Tyler Cowen]]'s short, digital-only book is a non-academic attempt to divert attention from growing inequality. It does so by lying with statistics.}} | {{DES | des = [[Tyler Cowen]]'s short, digital-only book is a non-academic attempt to divert attention from growing inequality. It does so by lying with statistics.}} | ||
| − | Conservatives (including libertarians) require a constant flow of crisis stories to justify their preferred policies. Books like "The Road | + | Conservatives (including libertarians) require a constant flow of crisis stories to justify their preferred policies. Books like "[[The Road to Serfdom]]", "[[The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life|The Bell Curve]]" and now "The Great Stagnation" follow a long tradition of scare mongering. They are pseudo-academic: they have no peer review, they are addressed to the general public, and their foundations in data and modeling range from lacking to pathetic. They are designed to permit the worst sorts of confirmation bias: supporters of the book position can see commies in every woodpile. And a few years after publication, nobody takes them seriously. |
"The Great Stagnation" is a classic example that employs lying with statistics. [[Tyler Cowen]] claims that our innovation is stagnating because median GDP/capita is not increasing the way it used to. But mean GDP/capita has been increasing steadily. The difference is because increases in GDP over the past 30 years have gone almost exclusively to the rich. | "The Great Stagnation" is a classic example that employs lying with statistics. [[Tyler Cowen]] claims that our innovation is stagnating because median GDP/capita is not increasing the way it used to. But mean GDP/capita has been increasing steadily. The difference is because increases in GDP over the past 30 years have gone almost exclusively to the rich. | ||
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Amusingly, "The Great Stagnation" is a revival of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Hansen Alvin Hansen]'s old idea of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_stagnation "secular stagnation"], which said that [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Hansen "... the American economy would never grow rapidly again, because all the growth ingredients had played out, including technological innovation and population growth...."] This was stated in the 30's, just before the record-breaking postwar boom. | Amusingly, "The Great Stagnation" is a revival of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Hansen Alvin Hansen]'s old idea of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_stagnation "secular stagnation"], which said that [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Hansen "... the American economy would never grow rapidly again, because all the growth ingredients had played out, including technological innovation and population growth...."] This was stated in the 30's, just before the record-breaking postwar boom. | ||
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| + | One critic ("name99") writes: | ||
| + | <blockquote>The real problem is that (as far as I can tell) Cowen is incapable, or uninterested in, distinguishing between | ||
| + | * rising technology and knowledge | ||
| + | * rising gross national income | ||
| + | * rising median income | ||
| + | * world and US incomes | ||
| + | He slips between different versions of these at different times, which makes it hard to argue with him and makes the whole enterprise come across as very much something written to justify a pre-existing set of preferred policies.</blockquote> | ||
There are many positive reviews from Cowen's fellow travelers and reviewers who do not see through the trick. Those are omitted from this list because they are generally foolish or also deceptive. Besides, this is the CRITIQUES Of Libertarianism web site. | There are many positive reviews from Cowen's fellow travelers and reviewers who do not see through the trick. Those are omitted from this list because they are generally foolish or also deceptive. Besides, this is the CRITIQUES Of Libertarianism web site. | ||
{{List|Reviews of The Great Stagnation|links=true}} | {{List|Reviews of The Great Stagnation|links=true}} | ||
