What do economists agree on?

 
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Consensus is a notoriously hard thing to come across in economics, especially since it looks from the outside as if there are numerous divergent schools of thought (there are really only two, in truth: saltwater and freshwater, with numerous strands within). So, allow me to elucidate just what the profession actually agrees on.

Of course, given that we're discussing economics, don't take "consensus" to mean "accepted by all mainstream economists without proviso".

Economic growth and inequality:
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Monetary policy, taxes & spending and recessions:
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Trade:
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Immigration:
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Welfare, healthcare and the minimum wage:
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Vaccines, California's drought, the financial system, discrimination, Uber, small businesses and manufacturing:
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Last Edit: July 07, 2015, 11:58:11 AM by Meta Cognition


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This is a lot of information along with the sources.

Bookmarked for later


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Any thoughts on the disproportionate wage growth between the top percentage of earners and the bottom 90% over the past five decades?


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I'd argue that economists are inherently biased toward the state because they are typically employed by government or banks, meaning that any "consensus" derived by economists would be fallacious.

That also is to say that free-market economists are inherently biased against the state because they are typically employed by entities that would benefit from less state control of the market.


 
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This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.
Any thoughts on the disproportionate wage growth between the top percentage of earners and the bottom 90% over the past five decades?
I have to point out immediately that I don't have any solid evidence on the matter. But, I think, a couple of things could be said about such an issue:

- There isn't actually a consensus on whether or not income inequality has increased in the US, and to what degree if it has. Income brackets just don't experience inflation in the same way, and accordingly a straight GINI line which doesn't capture these divergences will be led to show increasing inequality simply through data bias.
- There isn't any definitive evidence that income inequality harms economic growth. I think it does, personally, but the jury's out there.
- Inequality stats in the US are woeful; you're measuring income prior to any government transfers. What you really ought to be looking at is consumption inequality; the US performs much better in such instances.
- The rising share of national income going to capital is due to higher rents as a result of poor housing/planning regulation.