Economist Speaks On Widening Income Gap

Students filled Wheeler Auditorium yesterday to hear Paul Krugman, a well-known economist and New York Times columnist, speak about economic inequality, mass media and the upcoming presidential election.

Krugman, a professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University, came to speak in Political Science 179 and to promote his newest book, “The Conscience of a Liberal.”

“The book is an attempt to put down what I think I’ve learned trying to solve some very complex puzzles about America,” Krugman said.

Outlining many of the points from his book, Krugman mainly discussed how America has changed since the end of World War II.

He said in the post-war era, American society was largely middle-class and relatively economically equal. Since then, he said society has changed such that it is no longer as economically balanced

“We are a much richer, more productive society ... but most people have seen modest (wealth) gains at best,” he said.

Krugman pointed to not only a widening economic gap, but what he described as an ideological one as well.

“The Republican Party used to be the party which on economic issues, in fact on most issues, was not that different from the Democratic Party,” he said.

Krugman also spoke about the racial element used in political campaigns, referring to Ronald Reagan’s emphasis on “welfare queens driving Cadillacs” as just one example.

However, he said he thinks the increasing racial diversity of the country, especially growing numbers of Hispanic and Asian immigrants, and greater racial sensitivity, have made this type of smear campaigning less effective than it used to be, as parties must fight for votes from minority populations.

Sophomore Eddie Hoffman, a political science major in Political Science 179, said after the lecture that Krugman “made some thought-provoking points about equality in America.”

He said the most interesting idea he took away from the lecture was “that middle-class society is perhaps not the natural state of things.”

Near the end of the lecture, Krugman raised the idea of economic inequality being natural in the American system, characterizing modern America as being in the midst of a second Gilded Age, just as extravagant as the first around the turn of the 20th century.

He suggested that it might be that only extraordinary political circumstances, including pragmatic political leaders, create true middle-class society, and that the Gilded Age might be the natural state for society.

Though much of the lecture was focused on serious issues facing America, such as the large numbers of uninsured persons, and the growing inequality between the very rich and the very poor, he said he was optimistic that the situation will improve.

“The long-delayed populist backlash against inequality is now visible in polls, and if you believe polls, it looks like we will have a Democratic president and Congress in 2009,” he said.

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