Since 1980, the world economy has been undergoing a fundamental transformation. Profits and stock valuations of dominant firms are growing faster than ever, seemingly a sign of economic growth and progress. At the same time, we see that wages for production and service workers are stagnating, that labour dynamism and labour participation are falling, and that the number of start-up companies is decreasing. The Profit Paradox asks what is going on in the global economy.
Speaker Bio
Jan Eeckhout is ICREA research professor of Economics at UPF Barcelona. He has teaching and research interests in macroeconomics, with a special emphasis on the labour market. He studies the macroeconomic implications of market power, as well as the economics of the labour market and cities. His research has been published in the American Economic Review, Econometrica, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Review of Economic Studies, the Journal of Political Economy, and has been supported by the National Science Foundation and the European Research Council. His book, The Profit Paradox is published by Princeton University Press, and his work has featured in the media, including The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, FT, New York Times and Bloomberg. He has received support for his research from numerous government grants, including funding from the National Science Foundation (US) and the European Research Council (Starting Grant and Advanced Grants), as well as private grants. He has advised over 50 PhD students who have placed in academic positions from Yale to Chicago and from Beijing to Canberra, as well as in non-academic positions.