Their slogan is “ideas worth spreading.” But the folks at TED – the Technology Entertainment and Design nonprofit behind the TED Talks, beloved by geeks and others interested in novel new ideas – evidently think that some ideas are better left unspread. At least when the ideas in question challenge the conventional wisdom that rich enterpreneurs are the number one job creators.
Americans love economic mobility. It’s kind of a founding myth for us: We see ourselves as having broken free from rigid, aristocratic Europe to form a meritocracy that guaranteed a chance to move up in the world. Though there has been much talk lately about rising income inequality in the United States, what has worried [...]
Do Americans – or at least a significant portion of them — resent success? To hear some tell it, the biggest division in the country today is between those striving for success – and those who want to tear down the successful. According to presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney, Obama and the Democrats fall [...]
We’ve just begun coming to grips with the Wimpy Recovery. Are we actually in for another recession? That was the implication of a couple of economic reports I read this week, including one by ITG Investment Research, which tracked how the pace of this recovery (which was never great to begin with) has by some measures been slowing, most particularly among middle income consumers and industries producing for overseas markets.
Last year, America’s biggest companies increased their revenues –and their profits – by substantial amounts, yet the CEOs leading these companies saw only a meager increase in their compensation
Despite its rugged alpine beauty, there are few places where the world seems more flat than Davos, Switzerland. The World Economic Forum’s grand annual conclave, set to kick off this Wednesday, draws myriad heads of state, global power brokers and cognoscenti for a rarefied meeting of the minds amid canapes and caviar. For years, the [...]
A common refrain in conversations about poverty—and unemployment and income inequality—is that more education will lead people to better-paying jobs and higher living standards. I certainly don’t want to make an argument against education, but recent research from MIT economist Frank Levy and business professor Tom Kochan provides an especially sharp illustration of why just [...]
Early on in the financial crisis there was talk of this finally being the Wall Street recession. Investment bankers, CEOs and other high paid types would be thrown out of their jobs or see they paychecks cut. Manufacturing and other sectors that employ middle class workers would see a comeback. But, according to a new [...]
Justin lives! And he’s guest blogging for Ezra Klein this week. Check it out here. Yesterday he blogged about… whether or not income inequality helped cause the financial crisis. Sound familiar? In addition to that blog post, Justin recently wrote this HBR piece in which he reviews the growing literature on the topic. He mentions the [...]
