Larry Summers delivered the first annual lecture honoring Richard N. Cooper, with the title "What should the 2023 Washington Consensus Be?" at the Peterson Institute for International Economics (September 18, 2023, video and transcript available). He organizes his discussion around "six major misconceptions." First, it is supposed that the idea of economic policy is to
All great points. The one about manufacturing employment particularly resonates for me. It seems to have been taken as an article of faith in many countries that it is desirable to have more manufacturing jobs, accepted by both those on the political left (I imagine because of a history of these industries being associated with the traditional working class and unionisation) and the political right (I imagine because of a more general emotional appeal to a sense of ‘historical greatness’). It doesn’t make sense - for reasons of economic development, technology/productivity and comparative advantage, the decline of manufacturing employment in advanced economies over the last half century feels like a huge sign of economic success, not failure.
[Trump] tells us what he’s thinking as soon as it occurs to him. That shit sounds nuts. “I’m gonna go to China, and I’m gonna get those jobs from China and bring them back here to America.” For what, n***a? So iPhones can be $9,000? Leave that job in China where it belongs. None of us want to work that hard. What the fuck is he thinking? I want to wear Nikes. I don’t want to make them shits. What the fuck are you doing? Stop trying to give us Chinese jobs.
All great points. The one about manufacturing employment particularly resonates for me. It seems to have been taken as an article of faith in many countries that it is desirable to have more manufacturing jobs, accepted by both those on the political left (I imagine because of a history of these industries being associated with the traditional working class and unionisation) and the political right (I imagine because of a more general emotional appeal to a sense of ‘historical greatness’). It doesn’t make sense - for reasons of economic development, technology/productivity and comparative advantage, the decline of manufacturing employment in advanced economies over the last half century feels like a huge sign of economic success, not failure.
– Dave Chappelle