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The US Economic Model at Y2K: Lodestar for Advanced Capitalism?

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  • Richard B. Freeman

Abstract

The 1990s economic performance of the US suggests that the country may have the right mix of institutions and policies to be the peak capitalist economy in the new information economy. This paper develops criterion for judging peak status and examines whether the US fulfills these criterion. The US's employment and productivity performance make it a legitimate candidate for peak, but the record in distribution does not. As the late 1990s boom raised the wages of low skill workers, continued full employment will greatly strengthen the case for the US as peak economy. But with anything less than full employment the US economy will lose its luster. Even if this occurs, however, the US record in employing women and extending ownership to many workers deserves attention.

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  • Richard B. Freeman, 2000. "The US Economic Model at Y2K: Lodestar for Advanced Capitalism?," NBER Working Papers 7757, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:7757
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    1. Peter Gottschalk & Timothy M. Smeeding, 1997. "Cross-National Comparisons of Earnings and Income Inequality," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(2), pages 633-687, June.
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    3. Rebecca M. Blank & David Card, 1993. "Poverty, Income Distribution, and Growth: Are They Still Connected," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 24(2), pages 285-340.
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    Cited by:

    1. Gerhard BOSCH & Jill RUBERY & Steffen LEHNDORFF, 2007. "European employment models under pressure to change," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 146(3-4), pages 253-277, September.
    2. Štěpán Jurajda & Janet Mitchell, 2003. "Markets and Growth," International Economic Association Series, in: Gary McMahon & Lyn Squire (ed.), Explaining Growth, chapter 4, pages 117-158, Palgrave Macmillan.
    3. John Schmitt & Jonathan Wadsworth, 2002. "Is the OECD Jobs Strategy Behind US and British Employment and Unemployment Success in the 1990s?," SCEPA working paper series. 2002-06, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), The New School.
    4. Richard Freeman, 2002. "Institutional Differences and Economic Performance Among OECD Countries," CEP Discussion Papers dp0557, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    5. Pierre Fortin, 2003. "Differences in Annual Work Hours per Capita between the United States and Canada," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 6, pages 38-46, Spring.
    6. repec:ilo:ilowps:374124 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Baker, Dean, & Glyn, Andrew, & Howell, David R., & Schmitt, John., 2004. "Unemployment and labour market institutions : the failure of the empirical case for deregulation," ILO Working Papers 993741243402676, International Labour Organization.
    8. Richard B. Freeman & William M. Rodgers, 2005. "The weak jobs recovery: whatever happened to \\"the great American jobs machine\\"?," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issue Aug, pages 3-18.

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