Who Needs Jobs?: Spreading Poverty or Increasing Welfare

by P. Lemieux

Overview

In Who Needs Jobs?, Lemieux explains how jobs are not the goal of economic life and how creating jobs should not be the goal of public policy. He delves into how income and prosperity are created (businesses producing what consumers demand), proposes solutions to the unemployment problem, and provides readers with the knowledge to navigate the jobs discussions of politicians and economists in America. With his approach, Lemieux takes this controversial and complex topic and makes it understandable, using economic analysis and real world examples.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781137355058
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	08/20/2014
Edition description:	2014
Pages:	201
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Pierre Lemieux is an economist affiliated with the Department of Management Sciences of the Universite du Quebec en Outaouais, Canada, a Senior Fellow at the Montreal Economic Institute, and a Research Fellow at The Independent Institute (Oakland, California). He is author of several books, as well as several newspaper and journal articles.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents Foreword 1. Banning Chainsaws 2. Two Different Approaches 3. Work as a Cost 4. The Value of Consumption 5. The Lump-of-Labor Fallacy 6. Exchange, Competition, and the Division of Labor 7. Exchange over National Borders 8. Exporting Jobs 9. Efficient Jobs 10. How to Destroy Efficient Jobs 11. Economic Growth 12. Artificial Jobs 13. Aggregate Demand 14. Do Jobs Matter? Bibliography—

Editorial Reviews

"Pierre Lemieux once again debunks one of the most pervasive delusions driving government economic policy. His lucid writing and vivid examples show why federal programs that seek to create jobs are almost guaranteed to breed boondoggles and undermine productivity throughout the economy. Unfortunately, politicians profit from such schemes no matter how much taxpayers suffer." - Jim Bovard, author of Attention Deficit Democracy (2006) and Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty (1994)

"In accessible non-technical language, Pierre Lemieux uses economic analysis to explain why successful policies allow technological change to occur that destroys some jobs, creates other jobs, and improves the standard of living." - Peter Van Doren, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute, USA and editor of Regulation

"When government regulations create more jobs, is that good? Economists say no. Economist Pierre Lemieux also says no, but beautifully explains why. In one anecdote, hetells us how the chainsaw destroyed logging jobs and made Americans much better off. One of his most powerful messages is that workers' living standards improve when technology destroys jobs. Read, enjoy, and learn." - David R. Henderson, Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, USA

From the Publisher