Bad Economic Reporting Exposed Brad

Bad Economic Reporting Exposed

Brad Delong takes apart a New York Times story on (a) the impacts on working people and their communities as manufacturing jobs are lost, (b) the villains identified by the victims, and (c) the potential political implications.

The problem is, the story's author shares the same crude reductionist explantion ("its the foreigners") as his interviewees. DeLong provides the broader perspective that should have been in the original. Worth reading: (a) for the lesson in "back of the envelope" economics in DeLong's first paragraph, (b) for the context it provides for thinking about manufacturing jobs issue, and (c) (as is often the case in a DeLong posting) for the lessons it has to teach about how to read something carefully and critically.

If you only have time to read a few words from DeLong's posting, I'd suggest these:

"...But just as only 1/4 of the decline in manufacturing jobs is due to trade (and that is offset by jobs generated in other sectors), only 1/4 of the decline in manufacturing jobs is due to the recession and slow recovery (which better fiscal policy could have alleviated somewhat, but could not have completely offset). The big factor is that productivity in manufacturing is growing rapidly but American consumer demand for manufactures as opposed to services is not. Productivity in manufacturing outstripping demand is the big story..."

The thing isn't long and its all worthwhile.