1. In the New York Times.
We’ll need a new name for the group of people who have the incomes of the lower middle class and the cultural habits of the wealthy or upper middle class. They will spread a libertarian worldview that working for other people full time is an abominable way to get by.
2. From a Diane Coyle’s teaser/preview of his forthcoming book.
“Economics is becoming less like Einstein or Euclid and more like studying the digestive system of a starfish.”
I think that the blogosphere backlash against economic pseudo-physics is gathering force. And I look forward to reading Tyler’s new book.
“We’ll need a new name for the group of people who have the incomes of the lower middle class and the cultural habits of the wealthy or upper middle class.”
But we already have lots of names. Grad students & adjuncts. Freelance journalists. Musicians. Artists. Slackers and bohemians generally. This is not a new phenomenon — the world has long had cultured, educated people who have low incomes because their professions are high-status and low-paying and/or because they have rejected the ‘rat race’. Here’s a Hollywood example from 1938:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030241/
The people in these categories seem to trend much more left than libertarian, though (it’s a whole lot easier to be a rat-race dropout if the rest of the rats are providing subsidies). I’m reminded of this blog post:
http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2012/09/this-really-struck-a-nerve.html
They guy who sees Obamacare as a key enabler of a life of cultured leisure is a lefty. The guy complaining about that outlook is a libertarian.
Bohemians?