Jason Smith — Unions, inequality, and labor share

The information transfer model tracks this pretty well.

Information Transfer Economics
Unions, inequality, and labor share
Jason Smith

Jason Smith — Immigration is a major source of growth

One of the findings of the dynamic information equilibrium approach (see also my latest paper) is that nominal output ("GDP") has essentially the same structure as the size of the labor force.

The major shocks to the path of NGDP roughly correspond to the major shocks to the Civilian Labor Force (CLF). Both are shown as vertical lines. The first is the demographic shock of women entering the workforce....

With the positive shock of women entering the labor force ending, immigration is a major (and perhaps only) source of growth in the US aside from asset bubbles [3].

Information Transfer Economics
Immigration is a major source of growth
Jason Smith

Jason Smith — Is CPI an information-theoretic measure of labor force size?

Interesting speculation on inflation rate.

Information Transfer Economics
Is CPI an information-theoretic measure of labor force size?
Jason Smith

Why this is one very, very, very, scary chart!

This is a chart of real GDP (total output of goods and services) divided by the Civilian Labor Force. We know that the labor force has been declining and is at, like, a 40 year low. Despite that, however, the output of our economy has never been higher.

What this implies is that fewer and fewer people are reaping or participating in the wealth thrown off by our economy.

Soon we will have robots doing most of the work. And then what? On the one hand you will have even greater efficiencies (robots don't tire, need to be paid, take vacations, etc) and, therefore, even more wealth being produced.

On the other hand you will have lots and lots less people reaping the benefits. So, are they left to starve? Live in the streets? Go without medical care? Walk around naked, without transportation, electricity, heat?

This is not just a looming crisis for the United States, it's a looming crisis for mankind. The only way to avoid this is for people to be guaranteed minimum levels of income with which to consume some of this output. Otherwise, there will be human misery and chaos everywhere. The world will look like Mel Gibson's post apocolyptic movie, Mad Max.