Building a Wealthier, Fairer Society

The Michael Shermer Show

Michael Shermer

Dialogue, Science, Reason, Michaelshermer, Natural Sciences, Skeptic

4.4 • 921 Ratings

🗓️ 7 December 2024

⏱️ 84 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Historically, Western societies were defined by stark divisions between wealth and poverty, with only a slim middle class. Today, the economic landscape has transformed, largely through political and institutional changes that have enabled wealth distribution and middle-class growth. Economist Daniel Waldenström explores this evolution, highlighting that effective social and tax policies are essential to advancing shared prosperity without undermining entrepreneurship.

Using rigorous research, Waldenström’s work demonstrates how wealth accumulation patterns have shifted since the 1800s, emphasizing the significant role of increased access to education, property ownership, and pensions. His insights advocate for policies that promote wealth creation across all social tiers, ensuring sustainable growth and financial security for future generations.

Shermer and Waldenström cover the scientific basis of economics, how personal beliefs shape economic theories, and differences between income and wealth inequality. They delve into historical wealth disparities, factors that have driven middle-class growth, and policies like the Laffer Curve and labor taxation. Waldenström also offers practical advice on fiscal policy and strategies to help poorer nations achieve wealth and stability.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You're listening to The Michael Shermer Show. I saw your book, what was it, excerpted or reviewed in the Wall Street Journal, I think it was,
0:31.2	which is how I ended up reaching out to you. Maybe that's where it was or somewhere else.
0:35.4	Was it Financial Times, maybe? Michael Wolfe? I don't know.
0:38.4	Yes, yes, that's what it was. Right. Yeah, right.
0:41.4	So I thought, who is this guy? Wow, this is quite a different message from the Thomas
0:45.4	Pickety capital in the 21st century, which set everybody ablaze about income inequality.
0:52.1	So let's just start, give us a little bit of biographical
0:55.6	information. Who are you? What's your story? How did you get into studying economics in general
1:00.2	and income inequality and wealth inequality in particular? Okay, thanks, Michael. So this is a big
1:05.9	question, of course. I think, you know, I come from the, you know, from the standpoint,
1:09.8	from being very interested in society as a whole.
1:12.7	I mean, I interested in politics and how things work and also history.
1:17.5	So I started my undergraduates in economics and in history, doing them in parallel and also did like economic history, which which is a specific topic in Europe.
1:28.8	In the U.S., I think it's more like being done either within the economics or history
1:33.4	departments.
1:35.0	So academic studies research turned out to be my thing.
1:38.9	And then, so I started out working on financial markets history, but then came into understanding that welfare,
1:47.0	you know, how people live their lives and differences in society are very important stuff.
1:53.0	And then this is like 20 years ago.
1:56.0	I met up with Emmanuel Seiz from UC Berkeley when he came and visited UCLA, where I was a newly
2:03.8	graduated professor, assistant professor.
2:06.3	And I started becoming interested in long-run trends in inequality, income distribution,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Michael Shermer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Michael Shermer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.