"Human Versus Physical Capital" by Paul Krugman at the NY Times
Human Versus Physical Capital
by Paul Krugman at the NY Times
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/human-versus-physical-capital/
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One more entry in the robots and all that discussion, just to stress how much recent trends require a new storyline.
Our discourse on inequality has been dominated for decades by issues of education and talent and for what were good reasons at the time. There was a big increase in the college premium in the 1980s and to some extent in the 1990s but since then, not so much. From EPI:
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So the story has totally shifted; if you want to understand whats happening to income distribution in the 21st century economy, you need to stop talking so much about skills, and start talking much more about profits and who owns the capital. Mea culpa: I myself didnt grasp this until recently. But its really crucial.
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