The New Normal: Demand, Secular Stagnation, and the Vanishing Middle Class

This chapter examines a role for manufacturing in addressing the issue of “secular stagnation,” a concern about a decline in innovation, growth, the middle class, productivity rates, and related investment. Like agriculture, manufacturing has high productivity levels, so output can continue to increase even as employment falls. Historically, manufacturing has maintained high productivity gains; according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, between 1997 and 2015, the real value added of manufacturing increased by about 40 percent. Although there were measurement problems with this estimate, it suggests the productivity scaling factor that manufacturing can provide for an economy. Moreover, a substantial investment in advanced manufacturing offers an opportunity to directly address the underlying trend driving working-class unemployment, wage problems, and prime-age worker unemployment.

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The New Normal is “Maximizing Shareholder Value”: Predatory Value Extraction, Slowing Productivity, and the Vanishing American Middle Class

International Journal of Political Economy ◽

10.1080/08911916.2017.1407736 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 46 (4) ◽

pp. 217-226 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

William Lazonick

Keyword(s):

Middle Class ◽

Shareholder Value ◽

New Normal

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The Influence of Economic Growth of Middle Society in the New Normal Era Based on Information Technology Applications in Central Kalimantan

Budapest International Research and Critics Institute (BIRCI-Journal) Humanities and Social Sciences ◽

10.33258/birci.v3i4.1389 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 (4) ◽

pp. 3466-3473

Author(s):

Yely Ondrie

Keyword(s):

Economic Growth ◽

Information Technology ◽

Middle Class ◽

Human Resources ◽

Capital Accumulation ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Primary Data ◽

New Normal ◽

Central Kalimantan ◽

Technology Applications

The main objective of this research is to determine the positive and negative impacts of the economic growth of the middle class in the new normal era based on information technology applications in Central Kalimantan. This research uses descriptive analysis, the type of data used is primary data and secondary data. The results of the research are three variables that are very influential on the economic growth of the middle class, namely natural resources, human resources, and capital stock. Meanwhile, the most influential is human resources or labor. The positive side of society has creativity in maintaining the family economy from all aspects using technological progress and sufficient capital accumulation. The negative impact for the middle and lower class communities, many employees of oil palm plantations and also other companies were terminated for an unclear period of time, the small business sector, such as the procurement of basic necessities, is sometimes not a cheap price but there are commodities that are more expensive due to lack of supply.

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