Notes from GV4D4 week 3

• today, we have a patrimonial middle class: went from a society of
  superrentiers to a society of mostly managers and a few rentiers
• wage inequality can be partly explained by a race between technology &
   education (at least, relative group position)
• democratisation of educational system in France in 20th century,
   unfortunately did not eradicate inequality (incidentally, I read an
   interesting take on the educational system as an outlet for "hidden
   Keynesianism" in the excellent
   book Does Capitalism Have a Future)
• in the US: high cost of tuition, obvious ramifications (if they invested
   more in accessible education, could potentially reduce inequality for the
   lower deciles, at least until credential inflation catches up ...)
• interesting to compare minimum wage over time in France vs the US
• France: climbing fairly steadily, whereas in the US it's a weird sinuous
   pattern with fits and starts
• disappearance of daily wage in 20th ct: now monthly (or biweekly in some
   places I guess)
• econ arguments for a min wage: workers have too little bargaining power
   usually (esp due to the existence of a reserve army of labour), and if it's
   already below marginal productivity costs, then raising it won't reduce
   employment (at least theoretically, assuming everyone is a rational actor)
• on the supermanager phenomenon
• mostly an Anglo-Saxon phenomenon (though spreading)
• not just technological: there's a ratchet effect inherent in this due to
   high mobility & artificial funnel restrictions (credentials, "we can't
   lower the bar!", etc)
• there's no objective way of measuring how much an exec "deserves" so
   there's always an incentive to try to get paid more
• also reflects the ideology of the context (society, corporation) and
   whether or not there are checks and balances against high exec pay
• "meritocratic extremism": modern societies feel compelled to reward
   "winners" more generously if they give the impression that they
   accomplished what they did through "merit"