real
wages
—wages
adjusted
for inflation — have grown and
income has increased for people
in lower and middle classes. But
Furman said despite these factors,
the United States’ recovery is not
complete.
He cited lowered productivity
growth, which is the measure
of
efficiency
of
production,
as a longer-term issue for the
economy and said the decline
seen in the the levels of firm entry
and growth results in the decline
of competition in the economy.
Furman
also
discussed
increased inequality following
the recession, which he said
resulted from a rising demand for
skilled labor and a slower increase
in the rate of education. He added
that an increase in unionization
resulted
in
an
increase
in
percentage of money going to the
bottom percent, noting that the
real value of the minimum wage
has decreased.
“(The United States) is not
just higher than everyone else in
terms of the share when we talk
1 percent, but also has seen faster
increase in inequality for the top 1
percent than in other countries,”
he said.
Furman cited decreased labor
force participation. Furman said
the
labor
force
participation
as another barrier, saying the
participation rate peaked in the
1950s, but has been declining ever
since.
“For women, we saw this big
increase which is what caused the
overall increase, but that stopped
around 2000, has declined since
then, and there’s a huge gap
between the trend we were on
and what has happened since
then,” he said.
Along
with
the
economy,
Furman
discussed
effects
of
policies
enacted
during
the
Obama
administration.
He
said the Affordable Care Act,
or “Obamacare,” has shrunk
the uninsured rate to below 10
percent for the first time, and
health care spending has grown
slowly in both public and private
sectors.
Rackham
student
Elird
Haxhiu, an attendee, stressed
the importance of learning about
public policy, and said Furman
brought up very interesting points
about inequality, job growth and
wage stagnation.
“I wasn’t aware that the female
labor force participation had been
declining since the 2000s; that
was new to me,” Haxhiu said. “It
was interesting to hear some of
the policymakers reiterate some
of the same things that we talk
about. When we’re voting for
leaders, I think it’s important to
know that their proposals could
actually go in practice and what
effect those proposals might
have.”
Public
Policy
graduate
student Esi Hutchful echoed this
sentiment, noting the overlap
between material covered in the
talk and her economics classes.
“That moment he talked about
the thought experiment he did
on his own, on what would have
happened if productivity would
have increased and everything
else stayed the same, if wages
increased and everything else
stayed the same, etc., was really
interesting,” Hutchful said.
She
also
said
the
talk
highlighted
importance
of
understanding public policy and
how it can lead the nation to be
more informed and participate in
political discussions.
“Public
policy
really
determines everything you can
touch on and determines potential
solutions to the problems we
have now — it’s where we are
able to define what exactly these
problems are, who are going to
be the winners and losers of any
given policy,” Hutchful said.
“Even if you’re not determining
what the policy is, being able to
understand that conversation is
obviously really important.”
3-News
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, November 29, 2016 — 3
AARON BAKER/Daily
Johns Hopkins University professor Laurence Ball discusses whether Lehman Brothers should have been bailed out by the
Federal Reserve at Hutchins Hall Monday.
must recount the votes so we can
build trust in our election system.”
In
a
statement,
Michigan
Secretary of State said they are
confident the ballots were counted
correctly the first time through.
“The
detailed
county
canvassing process ensures that
Michigan residents can have full
confidence in the accuracy and
integrity of the results,” the site
reads.
Gov. Rick Snyder said there
are no problems with the ballots
in Michigan in a tweet Monday
evening, and added that Trump
and Vice President-elect Mike
Pence need to now focus solely on
governing.
BALLOTS
From Page 1
silently out of view or fight
only if necessary.
Additional
tweets
from
emergency
management
requested that students seek
shelter in place and asked that
students only contact police if
they have new information.
University
of
Michigan
Division of Public Safety and
Security spokesperson Diane
Brown said University police
are aware of the situation and
are continuing to patrol Ann
Arbor carefully in the wake of
OSU’s situation
“Our officers are aware of
the situation and are diligent
in
their
U-M
patrols,”
she said. “As always, we
encourage anyone who sees
something suspicious to call
911 right away.”
University
spokesperson
Rick Fitzgerald wrote in a
statement that the University
is glad the injured were
attended
to
quickly
and
situation was handled.
“We followed closely the
situation this morning on the
Ohio State campus and we
were heartened to learn that
the injured are being treated
and police quickly stopped
the attack,” he wrote.
As the news spread Monday
morning, many University of
Michigan students, staff and
units expressed support for
OSU online.
LSA Dean Andrew Martin
also tweeted in solidarity
from his personal account.
OSU
From Page 1
history.
In
his
remarks,
Ball
emphasized that the bankruptcy
played a role in the economic
recession that began in 2008,
saying that despite other large
investment firms also failing
around
the
same
time,
he
believes Lehman’s bankruptcy
was particularly consequential.
“I think it’s quite possible to
likely that the financial crisis
would’ve been less severe had
Lehman been rescued,” Ball said.
Citing
the
disruption,
he
challenged the Federal Reserve’s
choice not to bail it out, saying
the reserve could have kept all of
the Lehman Brothers Holdings
Inc. in operation for months with
well-secured liquidity support.
Instead,
he
said
Federal
Reserve officials claimed they
did not have the legal authority
to lend Lehman the money it
needed to survive. The Federal
Reserve used Section 13-3 of the
Federal Reserve Act, which states
Federal Reserve officials cannot
take on substantial financial risk,
to justify their decision. But Ball
said his calculations show they
could have prevented Lehman’s
bankruptcy
with
negligible
risk, because Lehman had $570
billion of available collateral.
Only an $88 billion loan would
therefore have been necessary
to substantially aid the Lehman
firm.
He also charged that they
chose not to bailout Lehman
because
of
intense
political
opposution and a waning hope
that
the
damage
could
be
contained.
“My assessment of the Fed is
that a lot of the claims they make
are contradicted by evidence,” he
said. “Their reasoning would not
go over well on an undergraduate
banking test.”
Ball also noted that the
political
attitudes
of
many
citizens in 2008 included a
wariness and distrust of Wall
Street and large investment
corporations.
Some of the students present
said they respected the tenacity
with which Ball analyzed the
numbers behind a potential
Lehman
rescue.
Engineering
freshman Aniket Wankhede said
he agreed with Ball’s argument.
“He talked more about the
inner workings of the Fed with
respect to the Lehman crisis,” he
said. “And the discussion about
the investigation that ensued
was very interesting. More than
political were the economical
implications and everything that
happened afterward.”
Shomik Ghosh, a Law School
student, said he approached
Ball’s
speech
analytically.
While he said he thought Ball’s
approach
was
original
and
interesting, he also noted that
many approaches to the Lehman
bankruptcy puzzle exist.
“I think Ball presents a novel
hypothesis that this decision may
have been far more volitional
and consequential than even
the Federal Reserve may have
known,” Ghosh said. “But in
Lehman there was an actor that
possibly misrepresented its own
holdings and has engaged in
really risky financial behavior.
I think if he accounted for how
Lehman might’ve been a bad
actor, a separate angle may be
that the feds had concern over
whether saving them would’ve
perpetuated
what
you
may
consider a disease in the system.”
LEHMAN
From Page 1
In particular, Brader said
key
constituencies
of
the
Republican
and
Democratic
parties turned out in fewer
numbers,
which
for
him
demonstrated the inaccuracy
within projected voter models.
Following with the theme
of partisan politics, panelists
Charles
Shipan
and
Jenna
Bednar, professors of political
science, highlighted possible
consequences of a Republican
president
and
Republican
Congress.
Shipan said there was large
potential for intense debate
within Congress regarding the
repeal and replacement of the
Affordable Care Act. Bednar
said the states could experience
decreased autonomy that would
affect issues such as education,
health care and gun control
under a unified Congress and
presidency.
Political Science Prof. Mark
Tessler also posed concerns
about a potential departure
from
current
U.S.
policies
toward the Middle East under
a Trump presidency. Trump
has
called
for
increased
immigration
laws
over
the
course of the campaign and has
used anti-Islam rhetoric.
“It’d certainly be disturbing
if the registration of American
Muslims became a reality as
Trump has discussed,” Tessler
said. “And, what would be the
larger implications for anti-
Americanism in the Middle
East from such action?”
While there were no definite
answers about the outcome
of the election presented at
Monday’s
event,
Political
Science
Prof.
Nicholas
Valentino showed data from his
research that concluded gender
attitudes and the emotional
responses
of
voters
may
have contributed to Trump’s
election.
“It’s
not
just
the
predispositions of voters that
matter, it’s also about the
emotional state of the public
and anger as seen more in
Republicans seemed to be much
more mobilizing in the public
than the fear that dominated
the Democrats,” Valentino said.
Rackham
student
Emmamarie Haasl, a member of
the audience, said she found the
panel beneficial in processing
the results of the election and
considering the spectrum of
political views.
“I think this was helpful in
trying to get into the minds
of voters and where they’re
coming from in a more clinical
way,” Haasl said.
LSA
sophomore
Dominic
Valentino,
son
of
panelist
Nicholas Valentino, and LSA
senior
Lalitha
Ramaswamy
said they were disappointed
at the lack of events initiating
dialogue between students on
opposite sides of the aisle.
“I was hoping for more of a
discussion about how people
felt about the election and
people that disagreed with
what was said today because
I think that would be more
productive
for
the
campus
climate,” Valentino said.
Ramaswamy
agreed
with
Valentino
and
compared
the structure of the panel to
discussions sponsored by LSA.
“I think panels like this can
help in understanding multiple
perspectives, but I think more
dialogue is necessary at this
point,” she said. “The same
people show up to these events
and the same ideas are recycled,
so using faculty to mediate
student discussions could be
more beneficial.”
ELECTION
From Page 1
ECONOMIST
From Page 1
who coined the term “alt-right,”
a
movement
that
promotes
white supremacy and racism.
Spencer told The Washington
Post he would visit campus,
but University spokeswoman
Kim Broekhuizen said in an
email statement Sunday the
University was not aware of
any.
David
Potter,
an
LSA
representative to SACUA, said it
is important for the University
to be prepared.
“Maybe
we
should
start
thinking about coordinating
with other groups on campus
so that when we start getting
people like Spencer showing up
there is a coherent response,”
Potter said. “We cannot wait
until after he is already here.”
Engineering prof. Michael
Atzmon,
an
Engineering
representative to SACUA, noted
instances of previous visits by
similar individuals.
“There
will
always
be
violence in a case like that,”
Atzmon
said.
“I
remember
when the KKK came to Ann
Arbor.”
Kevin Hegarty, vice president
and
chief
financial
officer,
also spoke at the meeting and
answered
faculty
questions
about the financial situation of
the University.
Hegarty began by briefly
discussing his responsibilities,
which include the University’s
finances,
facilities
and
operations
around
campus,
investment of the University’s
portfolio as well as other
duties. He said the University
performed
well,
financially,
this year, noting it’s debt.
“(The University) closed in
very strong financial shape,”
Hegarty said. “From a debt
perspective, we ended the year
with about $2 or $2.1 billion of
debt, which I can tell you is not
by any means overleveraged.”
In response to LSA Rep.
and
former
SACUA
chair
Silke-Maria
Weineck’s
question regarding the ethical
considerations of investment of
University funds, Hegarty said
profit is the overall objective.
Many campus activists have
urged the University to divest
funds from companies they
deem as unethical, such as
those that have businesses in
Israel or oil and coal companies.
“The board has taken the
position that gives us the
guidance as to how they want
that
portfolio
ultimately
invested,” Hegarty said. “They
don’t want it to be a political
football. They want to achieve
the maximum return that they
possibly can.”
Weineck responded to his
answer by saying there is no
way to invest the University
portfolio without making a
political statement.
“I think some people would
say the very fact that certain
ethical
concerns
are
being
handled politically is a political
act,” Weineck said.
The
annual
investment
report will be released Dec. 8 at
the Board of Regents meeting,
according to Hegarty.
SACUA
From Page 2
Read more at
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