South By North Strategies, Ltd.

Around The Dial – August 15, 2011

Economic policy reports, blog postings, and media stories of interest:

• The Huffington Post reports on discrimination against the unemployed.
• Uwe Reinhardt asks if “Congress and the White House deserve an AA+ rating.”
• Daniel Gros summarizes the crisis in the Eurozone.
• Don Peck wonders if  the middle class can be saved.
• Gretchen Morgenson profiles Thomas Hoenig of the Kansas City Fed.

The Case For More Fiscal Stimulus

In an interview with the PBS NewsHour, Christina Romer, the former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, makes the case for an additional round of economic stimulus.

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

Sapping Industrial Vitality

In a video interview with the Institute for New Economic Thinking,  Margaret Levenstein, an economic historian at the University of Michigan, explains the forces that caused innovation networks in Cleveland to break down.(Hint: financial speculation played a highly destructive role.)

Around The Dial – August 12, 2011

Economic policy reports, blog postings, and media stories of interest:

• Barry Eichengreen asks “what can replace the dollar?”
• Simon Johnson worries about “another round of bailouts.”
• George Soros argues that “Germany must defend the Euro.”
• Calculated Risk notes the decline of U.S. births in 2010.
• Dahlia Lithwick explains the “war on the NLRB.”
• Paul Krugman pints out public policy irresponsibility.

A “Good Jobs” Gap

In an update to previous research, the National Employment Law Project finds that America’s “good jobs” gap has continued to grow.

As the graph below shows, job losses have occurred overwhelmingly in mid-wage occupations (paying $13.53 to $20.66 an hour in 2011), while job growth has occurred primarily in low-wage occupations (paying $7.51 to $13.52 an hour in 2011).