Failure by design : the story behind America's broken economy / Josh Bivens ; foreword by Lawrence Mishel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bivens, Josh.

Contributor:

Mishel, Lawrence.

Series:

Economic Policy Institute/A State of Working America Publication

Economic Policy Institute

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Global Financial Crisis, 2008-2009.

Financial crises--United States--History--21st century.

Financial crises.

Working class--United States--Economic conditions--21st century.

Working class.

United States--Economic conditions--2001-2009.

United States.

United States--Economic conditions--2009-.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (116 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca : ILR Press, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In Failure by Design, the Economic Policy Institute's Josh Bivens takes a step back from the acclaimed State of Working America series, building on its wealth of data to relate a compelling narrative of the U.S. economy's struggle to emerge from the Great Recession of 2008. Bivens explains the causes and impact on working Americans of the most catastrophic economic policy failure since the 1920's.As outlined clearly here, economic growth since the late 1970's has been slow and inequitably distributed, largely as a result of poor policy choices. These choices only got worse in the 2000's, leading to an anemic economic expansion. What growth we did see in the economy was fueled by staggering increases in private-sector debt and a housing bubble that artificially inflated wealth by trillions of dollars. As had been predicted, the bursting of the housing bubble had disastrous consequences for the broader economy, spurring a financial crisis and a rise in joblessness that dwarfed those resulting from any recession since the Great Depression. The fallout from the Great Recession makes it near certain that there will be yet another lost decade of income growth for typical families, whose incomes had not been boosted by the previous decade's sluggish and localized economic expansion. In its broad narrative of how the economy has failed to deliver for most Americans over much of the past three decades, Failure by Design also offers compelling graphical evidence on jobs, incomes, wages, and other measures of economic well-being most relevant to low- and middle-income workers. Josh Bivens tracks these trends carefully, giving a lesson in economic history that is readable yet rigorous in its analysis. Intended as both a stand-alone volume and a companion to the new State of Working America website that presents all of the data underlying this cogent analysis, Failure by Design will become required reading as a road map to the economic problems that confront working Americans.

Contents:

Front matter

Table of Contents

List of Figures

Acknowledgments

Foreword

The Great Recession: The damage done and the rot revealed

The Great Recession's Trigger: Housing bubble leads to jobs crisis

The Policy Response to the Great Recession: What was done, and did it work?

The Great Recession Ended More Than a Year Ago- so, "Mission Accomplished"?

The Cracked Foundation Revealed by the Great Recession

Where to from Here?

Bibliography

About EPI

About the Author

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 99).

ISBN:

9780801461132

0801461138

9780801460654

0801460654

OCLC:

864900607