Don Bowdrow, a professor of economics at George Mason University, gave me some excellent Zoom talk last week to the group I’m participating in, the Stanford Classical Liberals. One of the things I enjoy most about Don’s lectures is to have each point hissa with the load of relevant data. Another thing is the rare New Days, the perspective he brings to problems from his knowledge of economic history and history of economic thought. It appears in several places in his talk, especially with a Q&A that starts at 52:00 points. Don’s knowledge reminds us of the heart of the truth that the late George Stigler said about his best friend, Milton Friedman: “Milton is the best economist of a bad century.” Stiggler’s idea I agree with is that the 19th century was far more important to the unfortunate economic people than the 20th century.
1:50: Don’s Virginia license plate.
5:00: The US’s industrial capabilities are the highest ever.
6:50: Industrial production is less than 1%, the highest ever.
7:35: US manufacturing output is 5.4% below its record high.
8:25: Manufacturing is just below the record high.
8:50: This blew me away: we lost a lot of time in apparel and leather goods. I knew.
13:20: Manufacturing employment as a savings on total employment has plummeted since 1944, but it is difficult to find the effect of China.
16:18: Manufacturing output per worker has been zoomed in since the late 1940s.
17:40: My salary and productivity have increased.
18:30: Actual wages were stagnant from the early 1970s to the early 1990s, but they zoomed.
20:30: Assets, liabilities, net assets. Evidence for the idea that a trade deficit strips us of wealth.
21:30: Average net worth zoom.
27:40: Probably about the shock in China.
32:40: The lost work to Jonah Sark. (My dad would have been grateful that Ifue’s job was lost 13 years ago. My sister, three years ago.)
34:00: 1963 Buick Skylark. It’s emphasizing that making it longer for a used car means fewer people will buy new cars, so it’s removing new car producers from work.
Slightly related: His name was Ron Schmidt. Our mutual colleague, Richard Taler, took me at the time of Glat’s question that Ron asked his class. They got the wrong answer and I got the wrong answer. The question was, “What is General Motors’ most important competitor?” I knew the approximate market share at the time, so I replied “Ford.” The wrong answer. GM’s most important competitor is the second-hand car market. If all used car owners find a way to extend the life of their car up to a year, all major car producers will see a significant drop in demand.
35:20: There is nothing unique about job destruction caused by imports.
36:00: One hub economist has something we want to stop.
40:00: Today, no one in the United States has failed to enrich his life significantly through trade.
DRH’s comment: I gave this point in a talk at Hoover a year ago. And we disagree with the gifts of our fellows, forbidden to name Scholause, which was under the control of Chatham House. She said my argument would be to tell me that since we have Walmart, those who lost their jobs due to trade should be grateful. I said no, that’s not the case. We said they should be grateful because there are trade benefits for over two centuries, but part of that is due to Walmart. She once again claimed misrepresentation of my argument. Eyesight.
41:20: Don hopes that the concept of a trade deficit has never been developed. I agree. Find out what the late Herbstein wrote on my brief Economics Anyclopedia here.
43:40: Can you save enough?
45:00: Why do people like to invest here?
46:00: IKEA is Dutch. Who knew? This actually makes Don’s Big Picure Points in a different way. As Offen said, there is no magic about the border.
52:00: My thoughts on the distortion effect of price control mitigation on actual wage growth.
53:50: Questions about dealing with hostile forces.
55:30: Are clothing pins essential for national security?
58:00: Foreign students coming here will reduce the trade deficit.
1:04:20: Optimal Customs Theory: Abuse of Monopony Power. Robert Torrens first discussed it in August for about 200 years. DRH Notes: I learned this in early 1972 at Western Ontario University reading papers at Grant Louver. I explained it well.
1:06:50: Edgeworth and Poison.
1:07:20: Trade between furniture and China and its workers’ treatment of China.
1:09:00: Does China’s manufacturing wages correspond to productivity?
1:15:50: Policy industry.
1:16:45: As Oren Cass said, the free market is “drinking donkeys.”
1:20:00: Most economists accept that the government subsidizes R&D (as described by the questioner). So, what about government subsidizing industries with long-standing active externalities? Answer: (1) How does the government know? (2) Alfred Marshall said he saw the Infigen Industry subsidies failing after returning from the US to the UK.
