Search EconLog

Productivity, Baumol's cost disease

A Category Archive (10 entries)

Home
| EconLog
| Archives
| Categories
| Category Archive

January 8, 2008

Megan McArdle on Demographics

Productivity, Baumol's cost disease

Arnold Kling

She writes (or will write--It really ticks me off that by the time my Atlantic arrives the best articles have been blogged. Remind me why I pay to get the magazine?) As the Boomers age, they will consume fewer of... MORE

October 2, 2004

Nobel Prize Speculation

Economic Philosophy

Arnold Kling

Various economics blogs, such as Division of Labour, are speculating on candidates for this year's Nobel Prize in economics. One thing I've noticed is that the winners tend to be people with concepts named after them. Coase theorem. Nash equilibrium.... MORE

April 27, 2004

Indian Labor Productivity

International Trade

Arnold Kling

I'm at a conference put on by the Milken Institute, and hence the light blogging. At one session on outsourcing and jobs, Clarence Schmitz, the CEO of an outsourcing firm, said that they had anticipated needing 1.2 Indian workers to... MORE

February 12, 2004

Service Sector Productivity

Productivity, Baumol's cost disease

Arnold Kling

Hal Varian's New York Times column today discusses the apparent rebound in service-sector productivity since around 1995. Before this rebound occurred, there was a fear that service sector productivity growth was inherently slow. Way back in 1967, the noted economist... MORE

September 21, 2003

Productivity and Unemployment

Productivity, Baumol's cost disease

Arnold Kling

In The Labor Market Puzzle, I sketched a one-sector model in which marginal productivity was falling as average productivity was rising. This would account for a drop in employment along with higher average productivity. Paul Kasriel has a more extended... MORE

August 18, 2003

Benefits of Health Care Spending

Economics of Health Care

Arnold Kling

Does America spend too much on health care? Has health care been immune to productivity increases and contracted Baumol's cost disease? David Warsh has some answers. "cost disease" is mostly bunk — because it relies on measures of input prices... MORE

July 23, 2003

Cost Disease and Class War

Productivity, Baumol's cost disease

Arnold Kling

Steve ("econopundit") Antler says that Baumol's Cost Disease is the basis for a new form of class warfare, pitting service producers against goods producers. Much of what's normally called "technical progress" is actually the "iron law" of service pricing in... MORE

April 29, 2003

Spend Less on Education?

Productivity, Baumol's cost disease

Arnold Kling

Sometimes, an economist argues against conventional wisdom, as in this essay, where I question the view that the government needs to increase its spending on education. If we combine the limited extent to which education is a public good with... MORE

April 19, 2003

Cost Disease

Productivity, Baumol's cost disease

Arnold Kling

If the government is taking more in taxes than it did forty years ago, then why does the typical citizen not feel that he or she is getting more in services? Kevin Drum proposes an answer. In fact, most of... MORE

February 8, 2003

The Deficit Argument, III

Productivity, Baumol's cost disease

Arnold Kling

Responding to my previous post, Brad DeLong offers a theory of government spending that is certainly, well, different. one percent faster real GDP growth does not leave federal spending unchanged. A lot of government services require that bureaucrats be paid... MORE

Return to top

Blogging software: Powered by Movable Type 4.2.1.
Pictures courtesy of the authors.
All opinions expressed on EconLog reflect those of the author or individual commenters, and do not necessarily represent the views or positions of the Library of Economics and Liberty (Econlib) website or its owner, Liberty Fund, Inc.

The cuneiform inscription in the Liberty Fund logo is the earliest-known written appearance of the word "freedom" (amagi), or "liberty." It is taken from a clay document written about 2300 B.C. in the Sumerian city-state of Lagash.

Contact Site Map Privacy and Legal http://www.econlib.org