[mgj-discuss] New: Videos of CEPR Economics Seminars on Web

[Jeremy Bigwood]

CEPR Economics Seminars Now on Video!


Couldn't make it to CEPRs fabulous economics seminars last fall? Know
someone who is looking for some background on domestic or international
economic issues?

Thanks the Center on Wisconsin Strategy and the Nathan Cummings Foundation
you can now watch videos of the seminars for free on your computer! And if
you would like to have the seminars for your classes, meetings or to show on
public access TV, DVDs are available, too (at cost, $65 for a set, plus
shipping). All of the videos, as well as the PowerPoint presentations and
audio recordings, can be found at http://www.cepr.net/pages/seminars.htm
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=199776488&url_num=1&url=
http://www.cepr.net/pages/seminars.htm> .

Seminar Descriptions 


1) The Basics of Good Economics - Framing the Issues Right (Dean Baker)
Economics is often perceived as something that only people with advanced
degrees in the field can and should understand, but economic arguments are
often used in confusing or misleading ways in policy debates and in the
media. This session provides an introduction to people that want to be able
to tell fact from fiction in discussions about the economy. Some of the
topics covered are: 

*	Getting the numbers right - Millions, billions, and trillions, the
difference is in the context; 
*	A rising stock market - As good for the economy as rising corn
prices; and 
*	Name-calling - How to fight back (hint: recognition is the first
step - key words, "protectionist," "free trade," "double taxation,"
"takings"). 


2) Growth I - Why Economists Worry About It So Much, and Why You Should Too
(Dean Baker)
Economists worry a great deal about growth, and for good reason. This
session covers concepts related to growth and its importance - including why
you should care about it. The session presents basic definitions, and
developments in wealthy countries. It also goes over how growth is measured
- the gory secrets of gross domestic product (GDP) - including what gets
counted (e.g. military spending, jails, pollution control equipment) and
what doesn't (household production, crime, pollution).

Links are drawn between growth, jobs, productivity and wages. The experience
of Europe is honestly compared to that of the U.S. (More vacation and
shorter workweeks mean less growth in Europe - so what?) Finally, we cover
how environmental regulations (e.g. the Kyoto agreement) and defense
spending slow growth (hint: it's the same way).

3) The Long Slide Down and Apart: U.S. Labor Markets (John Schmitt)
The United States has always been a highly unequal country, but inequality
increased particularly sharply between the end of the 1970s and the present.
First, we take a look at post-World-War-II trends in three crucial economic
distributions -- wages, income, and wealth. Then, we relate the widening
economic inequality since the late 1970s to a constellation of concrete
economic policies, including macroeconomic policy, a stagnating minimum
wage, the assault on U.S. unions, deregulation, privatization, and corporate
globalization.

4) Growth II - Growth in the Developing World Over the Last Quarter Century
(Mark Weisbrot)
This session looks at the sharp fall-off in economic growth in the vast
majority of developing countries, which began 25 years ago. This is probably
one of the most important economic phenomena over the last quarter-century,
and has been a driving force in electoral changes in Latin America,
including Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Uruguay. But despite
its tremendous importance, it has received almost no attention in the United
States. This session looks at the consequences and possible causes of this
economic failure, as well as some of the few development success stories of
the last 25 years -- e.g. China.

5) Trade - What Are the Gains and Who Gets Them (Mark Weisbrot)
Standard economic analysis shows that efficiency gains from trade
liberalization are much smaller than most people have been led to believe;
at the same time developing countries make costly concessions for this
trade, and within the U.S. there has been an upward redistribution of income
resulting from trade policy. This session looks at who gains and loses from
trade policy and how, including: 

*	The high cost of protectionism - in professional services,
intellectual property and other areas where government interventions
redistribute income upward; and 
*	The trade deficit and the overvalued dollar. 


6) When Women Get Paid for Work: The Entry of Women to the Paid Labor Market
(Heather Boushey)
The latter half of the 20th century saw a significant change in the way that
women work. In the 1960s, the majority of mothers worked at home, by the
1990s, the majority was in the paid labor market. This transformation has
implications for the labor market, for policy, and for families, both in
terms of family economics, as well as family formation and well-being. The
movement of women into the labor market was driven both by economic
conditions, which pushed women towards paid employment in order to keep
their families financially secure (or afloat), and by women's desire for
careers and identities other than motherhood. Americans, however, maintain
deep ambivalences about working women and especially working mothers;
institutions and social practices have not been quick to change to
accommodate the new realities of the labor force. This session looks at the
implications of these changes for women and American workers generally.

7) Horatio Alger is Dead (Heather Boushey)
One of our most cherished national beliefs is that the United States offers
tremendous opportunities for economic mobility, that even the poorest
citizens or the most recent immigrants have a chance to make it rich or, at
least, acquire their own piece of the "American dream." In fact, economic
mobility in the United States has never been that great. International
comparisons of economic mobility, for example, consistently demonstrate that
European economies offer their poor far better chances of upward mobility
than we do. Recent analyses also suggest that the degree of upward mobility
has been on the decline since the 1970s. This session explores the realities
of class mobility in America today.

8) The Federal Reserve Board - The Most Important Source of Poverty in the
United States (Dean Baker)
The Federal Reserve Bank plays a crucial role in the U.S. economy. This
session explains how the Fed determines the number of people who get to hold
jobs in the United States. We cover the economic myth that kept millions out
of work: the non-accelerating inflation rate level of unemployment (NAIRU).
We also discuss the Fed and the European Central Bank, including how bankers
get to make the European welfare states look bad.

9) Financial Bubbles (Stocks and Housing) and How You Can Protect Yourself
Against Them (Dean Baker)
Speculative bubbles have caused enormous distortions in the U.S. and world
economy over the past decade. This session explores what bubbles are, and
why they happen. Topics include: 

*	The nineties stock bubble - what caused it, why it was bad, and what
could have stopped it; 
*	The housing bubble - what caused it, why it was bad, and what could
put an end to it; and 
*	How the experts missed the bubbles and the cost of their mistakes
(a.k.a. how the Congressional Budget Office over-estimated capital gains tax
revenue by $1 trillion). 


10) Intellectual Property - Patents, Copyrights, and Other Protectionist
Barriers (Dean Baker)
This session covers the role of patents and copyrights - how the government
imposes monopolies to provide incentives. We point out the cost of patent
monopolies in prescription drugs (@ $150 billion a year, or $2000 for a
family of four). The session then examines alternatives to patent financing
for prescription drug research (has anyone heard of the National Institutes
of Health?). We also point out alternatives to copyrights for supporting
music, movies, and software: artistic freedom vouchers (yes, progressives
can like vouchers).

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