Monday, February 23, 2015

Matt Bruenig — Human Capital Confusion


More.

Demos.org 

1 comment:

Magpie said...

Bruenig is a smart guy, but on this he is mistaken.

"Ultimately, ideology determines whether the classical distinction between income from working and income from owning truly matters. But the distinction carries a lot of weight in many common ideological frames."

The importance of the distinction is not merely ideological, nor is the difference between labour and capital a matter of ideology.

About the former, he says as much here, apparently without realizing it:

"As Milanovic points out, acquiring labor income involves undergoing disutility that acquiring capital income does not, an important consideration within utilitarian frames."

Besides, he is leaving out of consideration the history of economic thought and how marginal productivity theory was developed.