By Topic

This week’s IGM Economic Experts Panel statements: A) If the federal minimum wage is raised gradually to $15-per-hour by 2020, the employment rate for low-wage US workers will be substantially lower than it would be under the status quo. B) Increasing the federal minimum wage gradually to $15-per-hour by 2020 would substantially increase aggregate output in the US economy. 

This week's IGM Economic Experts Panel statements: A) If all of the “Seven actions to protect American workers” in President-elect Trump’s 100-day plan (see link) are enacted, it will more likely than not improve the economic prospects of middle-class Americans over the next decade. B) If all of the “Seven actions to protect American workers” in President-elect Trump’s 100-day plan are enacted, it will more likely than not improve the economic prospects of low-skilled Americans over the next decade. 

This US survey examines (a) Use of artificial intelligence over the next ten years will have a negative impact on the earnings potential of substantial numbers of high-skilled workers in advanced countries; (b) Use of artificial intelligence over the next ten years will lead to substantially greater uncertainty about the likely returns to investment in education; (c) Use of artificial intelligence over the next ten years is likely to have a measurable impact in increasing income inequality 

This European survey examines (a) Use of artificial intelligence over the next ten years will have a negative impact on the earnings potential of substantial numbers of high-skilled workers in advanced countries; (b) Use of artificial intelligence over the next ten years will lead to substantially greater uncertainty about the likely returns to investment in education; (c) Use of artificial intelligence over the next ten years is likely to have a measurable impact in increasing income inequality 

This week's IGM Economic Experts Panel statements: A) By providing important measures of US economic performance — including employment, consumer prices, wages, job openings, time allocation in households, and productivity — the Bureau of Labor Statistics creates social benefits that exceed its annual cost of roughly $610 million. B) Cuts in BLS spending would likely involve net social costs because potential declines in the quality of data, and thus their usefulness to researchers and decision makers, would exceed any budget savings. 

This week’s IGM Economic Experts Panel poll statement: Federal mandates that government purchases should be “buy American” unless there are exceptional circumstances, such as in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, have a significant positive impact on U.S. manufacturing employment. 

This week's IGM Economic Experts Panel statements: A) Trade with China makes most Americans better off because, among other advantages, they can buy goods that are made or assembled more cheaply in China. B) Some Americans who work in the production of competing goods, such as clothing and furniture, are made worse off by trade with China. 

This week’s IGM Economic Experts Panel statement: If the NCAA let colleges pay athletes with more than scholarships (which currently may cover tuition, books, room and board), then top colleges in men’s basketball and football would pay most athletes substantial sums beyond full scholarships. 

This week's IGM Economic Experts Panel statement: An important reason why private college and university tuition has risen faster than the CPI during the past few decades is because competition for faculty members — whose potential earnings in other sectors have steadily improved — has driven up their pay faster than their productivity.