Jacob Christensen

Floyd Norris shows that the share of U.S. men without work is higher than many imagine (hint: “unemployment rates” are not the same as “the rates of people without a job”). Paul Krugman agrees and adds France to the equation.

Krugman also points us to a paper from 2006 by John Schmitt and Dean Baker taking issue with the “Eurosclerosis” argument.

Just one thought: How do the incarceration rates in the U.S. influence the figures?

Of cause the impending downturn complicates matters a bit.

• The Future of Red, Blue and Purple America – Governance Studies – Brookings Institution
  The Future of Red, Blue and Purple America, a joint project from The Brookings Institution and American Enterprise Institute, joins leading demographers, geographers and analysts in examining the impact of seven trends on the 2008 election and the future
  (tags: usa elections politicalscience research)
• Andrew Gelman – The decline of the white working class and the rise of a mass upper middle class
  (tags: usa elections sociology politicalscience research)