Interesting MIT Economist research on 99%

[kandrathe]

I stumbled across (on twitter) this paper published today.

Skills, education, and the rise of earnings inequality among the “other 99 percent” by David H. Autor

What is interesting is how it unpacks the impact that educational attainment has in looking at earnings.

Although there is no “remedy” for inequality that is as swift or cheap as eyeglasses, prosperous democratic countries have numerous effective policy levers for shaping inequality’s trajectory and socioeconomic consequences. Policies that appear most effective over the long haul in raising prosperity and reducing inequality are those that cultivate the skills of successive generations: excellent preschool through high school education; broad access to postsecondary education; and good nutrition, good public health, and high-quality home environments. Such policies address inequality from two directions: (i) enabling a larger fraction of adults to attain high productivity, rewarding jobs, and a reasonable standard of living; and (ii) raising the total supply of skills available to the economy, which in turn moderates the skill premium and reduces inequality.

Highlights by me in the last sentence there.

I was thinking about this very topic on my long commute this morning; "Why don't we focus more on maximizing the utility of every productive worker, rather than creating a rats maze of risk, red tape and frustration in enabling our able bodied workers, work that they are empowered and motivated to do?"