Congratulations for making the clear case that extreme inequality is NOT good for the economy at all, just the opposite. I liked the way you turned the supposed "incentives" feature of inequality on its head. It has been very frustrating listening to economists talking about inequality and sluggish growth without connecting the dots. Even Paul Krugman just can't accept the economic argument against inequality, resorting to social and political arguments instead. Larry Summers at the IMF Research Conference a couple of months ago surmised that we might be mired in "secular stagnation," but he didn't connect the dots. My son Sam and I tried to systematize the argument two years ago in our initial post on our blog inequality2012.blogspot.com, and I suspect a lot of economists young and old know something is terribly out-of-whack in the macro-economy of the early 21st Century. But they don't seem to be able to put their finger on the central economic nexus: sluggish-growth-resulting-from-extreme-inequality. Keep up your excellent work. I look forward to reading your whole "Letter."
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Congratulations for making the clear case that extreme inequality is NOT good for the economy at all, just the opposite. I liked the way you turned the supposed "incentives" feature of inequality on its head. It has been very frustrating listening to economists talking about inequality and sluggish growth without connecting the dots. Even Paul Krugman just can't accept the economic argument against inequality, resorting to social and political arguments instead. Larry Summers at the IMF Research Conference a couple of months ago surmised that we might be mired in "secular stagnation," but he didn't connect the dots. My son Sam and I tried to systematize the argument two years ago in our initial post on our blog inequality2012.blogspot.com, and I suspect a lot of economists young and old know something is terribly out-of-whack in the macro-economy of the early 21st Century. But they don't seem to be able to put their finger on the central economic nexus: sluggish-growth-resulting-from-extreme-inequality. Keep up your excellent work. I look forward to reading your whole "Letter."