I was delighted to stumble across this web page and hope that it becomes the springboard for discussion you mentioned in your initial message. And as someone with a BA in econ (from that school down in LA, not Cal) I still feel a litle lost when it comes to applying the theoretical models to the real world.

Hence this question; having read some of Krugman's articles it seems he says that the current economic expansion hasn't benefitted all levels of society equally. Yet I also read articles that claim exactly the opposite. So my question (okay, 2 questions) -- first, what do you think is happening? Second, how can the lay reader such as myself learn to sort the wheat from the chaff in considering the economic issues of the day?

-- Mike Thompson (mike789@altavista.net), September 09, 1999

Answers

Response to boom times for all?

Well, Paul Krugman is pretty good at calling 'em like he sees 'em--not guaranteed to be right, but guaranteed to give it his best shot.

The amount of inequality in relative terms in America has been widening fast for two decades. That's true. Has it been widening fast enough to make it so that all of the benefits are going to the rich? Probably not...

Brad DeLong

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-- Brad DeLong (delong@econ.berkeley.edu), April 08, 2000.