Wages are growing faster than inflation. Real wages did decline in 2022. But, for at least the past 18 months, have seen continued growth. Wage inequality has improved. I go through all the sources, here.

Response to Good Morning, Bad News

Perception: Half of Americans surveyed agreed that unemployment was at a “50-year high”.

Reality: We’ve had 27 consecutive months of sub-4% unemployment, with unemployment near its 50-year low. Morning Joe

An excellent note digging into the growth differences between the US & other advanced economies. The US pandemic recovery was uniquely strong. No silver bullet it seems but the magnitude & nature of fiscal & monetary policy support, plus US business dynamism, stand out.

The US is recovering so much faster than other advanced economies.
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Big fan of this paper. Congratulations!!

Paper (w Steve Schwab) finally out in Science!!

TL;DR: Power has tangible benefits. Using data from military hospitals where both docs and patients have rank (a measure of power), we find that 'powerful' patients get more care and have better outcomes.

science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

This administration just announced historic and transformative investments in HBCUs. See this CEA issue brief on the economics of HBCUs.

whitehouse.gov/cea/written-ma…

We have had *real* wage growth (i.e. wage growth above that of prices) since July 2023.

Black workers have been moving up the occupational ladder! A larger share of Black workers are in high pay sectors today than in 2019....same goes for occupations!

Crémieux Mohammed Abdulmoneim Have not read these studies beyond the abstract but Lee and Nakazawa (2022) exploit random assignment of South Korean students to single-sex vs co-ed schools. C. Kirabo Jackson also has work on this topic in Trinidad and Tobago.

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

jhr.uwpress.org/content/56/1/1

'All students benefit from attending effective schools, but the least advantaged students experience larger improvements in graduation, college going, and arrests. Test score value-added understates the long-run importance of effective schools' journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.108…

Happy to see this coming out in print soon!

TL/DR, good schools are particularly helpful for less-advantaged kids.

Who Benefits from Attending Effective High Schools? | Journal of Labor Economics journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10.10…

'Students exposed to additional funding during elementary school were substantially less likely to be arrested in adulthood.'

Happy to see this important paper in print!

direct.mit.edu/rest/article-a…

Person: Hey man, I keep looking over and thinking you look a lot like Usher.

Me (turns to look at the person): Actually, YOU look a lot like Usher!

Person: I get that a lot, but I think you have me beat.

Me: I'm not sure about that.

His wife: y'all look like cousins!

Bringing up this oldie but goodie thread on looking beyond test scores.

If these numbers were the opposite, if homicides were up 19% so far this year it would be the number one, or at least top three domestic story.

From Shayna Silverstein book launch talk 🥰. Really enjoyed all the thoughtful discussion!

Great video where Jared Bernstein provides an in-depth discussion focused on income inequality, labor market dynamics, and sustainable economic recovery.

youtube.com/watch?v=n65Pch…

This is fantastic - more agencies should put out calls for research help like this!