Friday March 19, 2010
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Crawford Hall – Room 9
Inamori Center
Case Western Reserve University

Dear Colleagues,

Since 1979, manufacturing’s share of the U.S. economy has declined from 21.2% to 11.5%. Manufacturing employment fell from 19.4 million to 12 million, even as the potential labor force grew by more than 50%. The U.S. has developed a massive trade deficit, and real average hourly wages are lower than they were in 1973. The liberal Institute for America’s Future and conservative columnist Pat Buchanan are among those who argue that this “deindustrialization” is a crisis in the U.S. Economy. It sure can look like a crisis in Ohio.

Yet conventional wisdom among economists and policy-makers pays little attention to this issue. Many economists have argued that a decline in manufacturing employment is just part of a long-term trend of economic development, the switch to a services or “post-industrial” economy that has been occurring for decades and is driven mainly by improved productivity. Some economists say the real problem is the budget deficit. Others fear that worries about manufacturing could lead to protectionism.

To start off the discussion, Assistant Professor of Economics David Clingingsmith, AT&T Professor of Economics Sue Helper, and Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy Joe White will offer perspectives about the history of economic transformations, the situations of specific U.S. industries, and issues of both growth and inequality.

As usual, we will gather in Room 9 of the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence, on the lower level of Crawford Hall, for free cookies, beverages, and brown bag lunch.

Best regards,
Joe White

About Our Guests

Susan Helper is AT&T Professor of Economics at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. She is also a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and the MIT International Motor Vehicle Program (IMVP). Her research focuses on the impacts of collaborative relationships, between suppliers and customers and management and labor. Currently she is studying how globalization of supply chains affects development and innovation in the US, Mexico, and India. She has published in journals such as American Economic Review, Sloan Management Review, and Journal of Economics and Management Strategy. She has a Ph.D. from Harvard University and a BA from Oberlin College. In 2005-06 she was a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Oxford.

David Clingingsmith works in applied microeconomics and focus mostly on individual behavior. He is currently studying the influence of religious experience on cooperation, trust, and social attitudes, how beliefs about ability and luck influence social preferences, the role of economic development in changing investments in language abilities, and effects of incentives on health care delivery in developing countries. David Clingingsmith completed his Ph.D. in economics at Harvard University in June, 2007. His training at Harvard was in development economics, labor economics, and economic history. He also has an M.A. in anthropology from the University of Chicago.

Joe White came to Case in 2000 and became Department Chair in 2003. He previously was Associate Professor of Health Systems Management in the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University, and before that was first Research Associate and then Senior Fellow in the Governmental Studies Program of the Brookings Institution. He received his A.B. in Political Science from the University of Chicago and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:

March 26: Observations in Beirut. With Bill Marling, Professor of English.

April 23: Science in the Courts. With Wendy Wagner, Joe A. Worsham Centennial Professor, University of Texas School of Law.

The Friday Lunch discussions are held on the lower (ground) level of Crawford Hall. Visitors with mobility issues may find it easiest to take advantage of special arrangements we have made. On most Fridays, a few parking spaces in the V.I.P. lot in between Crawford Hall and Amasa Stone Chapel are held for participants in the lunch discussion.

Visitors then can avoid walking up the hill to the first floor of Crawford by entering the building on the ground level, through the garage area under the building. The further door on the left in that garage will be left unlocked during the period before the Friday lunch. On occasion, parking will be unavailable because of other university events.

For more information about these and other Center for Policy Studies programs, please see http://policy.case.edu.