> Libertarian fiscal policy and lax government regulation is mostly to blame.
Not only is this claim entirely unsubstantiated, it's wrong in quite a few ways.
1) In the U.S. we have not had libertarian fiscal policy in the slightest.
2) We have plenty of regulations in most areas.
3) Even if we did lack regulations or have libertarian policy, this couldn't explain the shift that has happened.
A much more compelling and less baseless argument would be one presented by one of my Econ professors Enrico Moretti in his book The New Geography of Jobs. His argument essentially is that the way in which the U.S. economy has shifted away from manufacturing and toward technological innovation has resulted in a declining middle class and an increase in inequality. As globalization has set in, manufacturing has left the U.S. and with it traditional middle class jobs. On the other hand, technology has been booming, creating cities with a huge amount of wealth. So now we're left with poor, has-been cities like Detroit on one hand, and cities like SF on the other.
I suppose you could argue that not imposing huge tariffs and not being incredibly protectionist in order to protect manufacturing jobs is "libertarian". But these sorts of "lax" policies also have support from most economists, and for good reason. So I don't really know what you're arguing for.
Not only is this claim entirely unsubstantiated, it's wrong in quite a few ways.
1) In the U.S. we have not had libertarian fiscal policy in the slightest. 2) We have plenty of regulations in most areas. 3) Even if we did lack regulations or have libertarian policy, this couldn't explain the shift that has happened.
A much more compelling and less baseless argument would be one presented by one of my Econ professors Enrico Moretti in his book The New Geography of Jobs. His argument essentially is that the way in which the U.S. economy has shifted away from manufacturing and toward technological innovation has resulted in a declining middle class and an increase in inequality. As globalization has set in, manufacturing has left the U.S. and with it traditional middle class jobs. On the other hand, technology has been booming, creating cities with a huge amount of wealth. So now we're left with poor, has-been cities like Detroit on one hand, and cities like SF on the other.
I suppose you could argue that not imposing huge tariffs and not being incredibly protectionist in order to protect manufacturing jobs is "libertarian". But these sorts of "lax" policies also have support from most economists, and for good reason. So I don't really know what you're arguing for.