The Policy Choices That Suppressed American Wages (with Josh Bivens and Larry Mishel)

Why have wages for working Americans stagnated for decades—even as productivity, corporate profits, and the wealth of the people at the top continued to rise?

The mainstream explanations are familiar: automation, globalization, education, or simply the unavoidable forces of the market—but wage stagnation was not inevitable. It was the result of policy choices.

This week, we’re revisiting a conversation with economists Lawrence Mishel and Josh Bivens about the decisions that reshaped the American economy, weakened worker bargaining power, and made it harder for working people to claim their share of the prosperity they helped create.

As we continue sharing more about Market Humanism—the idea that markets are human-built systems shaped by rules and power—this conversation feels especially relevant. The economy we have did not emerge naturally. It was built. And that means it can be rebuilt.

This episode originally aired on June 1, 2021.

Josh Bivens is the chief economist at the Economic Policy Institute. His research focuses on macroeconomics, inequality, social insurance, public investment, and the economics of globalization.

Larry Mishel is a distinguished fellow and former president of the Economic Policy Institute. His research focuses on labor economics, wages and income distribution, industrial relations, productivity growth, and the economics of education.

Social Media:

@joshbivens-econ.bsky.social

@joshbivens_DC

@larrymishel.bsky.social

@LarryMishel

Watch Nick on The Diary of a CEO

Nick recently joined Steven Bartlett and entrepreneur Daniel Priestley for a wide-ranging debate about the wealth divide, stagnant wages, artificial intelligence, and whether capitalism can still deliver broadly shared prosperity.

Watch the conversation on The Diary of a CEO.

Further reading ⬇️

Economic Policy Institute: Identifying the Policy Levers Generating Wage Suppression and Wage Inequality

Economic Policy Institute: The Productivity–Pay Gap

Economic Policy Institute: Wage Calculator: How Much More Would You Be Making If Pay Had Kept Pace With Productivity?

Roosevelt Institute: Democratic Abundance: An Abundance That Works for Workers

Roosevelt Institute: From Safety Net to Power Base: Reimagining, Not Restoring, the US Antipoverty System

Markets Built for Humans: A Guide for Policy Professionals to the New Economics

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