Laura Tyson is a Real Economist

Here
is the How and the Why

The Dismal Political Economist has been highly critical of the economics profession, with justifiable reason given its continued focus on deficit reduction over employment and economic growth, its prescription of bad policies such as cutting employment tax rates as an effective fiscal policy, the lack of understanding of a liquidity trap, and its failure in general to develop a correct and cohesive policy that will help the financial crisis. 

The first step toward a real recovery is to recognize that the Great Recession is not over, despite what some official scorekeepers might argue.  Supporting this position is professor Laura Tyson of the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley and former  chair of the Council of Economic Advisers.

Writing in the Financial Times Ms. Tyson says

The US economy has just marked two years of recovery from its worst recession since the Great Depression. But few Americans are celebrating; indeed, most believe that the economy is still in recession. . . .

The employment decline during the 2008 recession was more than twice as large as those of previous postwar recessions, according to the McKinsey Global Institute. . . .

More than 2m discouraged workers will have stopped looking for work. The fraction of the population working is near a 25-year low. . . .

The jobless recovery is also a wageless recovery for most Americans

  And here is a nice(?)  picture of what she is talking about (thanks for Barry Ritholtz)

 

 

Any questions, didn’t think so.