The Vanishing Middle Class: Prejudice and Power in a Dual Economy
by Peter Temin
View on GoodreadsMIT economist Peter Temin's application of W. Arthur Lewis's developing-economy dual-sector model to the United States — arguing the US has functionally split into an FTE (finance/tech/electronics) sector and a low-wage sector, with race as the key sorting mechanism.
Core ideas
- Two economies coexist with little mobility between them; the FTE sector enjoys productivity gains and educational pipelines, the low-wage sector faces stagnant wages and degraded public goods.
- Race is the historical mechanism by which the dual structure was built and is maintained — the "Investment Theory of Politics" funds policies that lock it in.
- Education is treated as the bridge in conventional thinking but the bridge has been deliberately undercut (school funding, college cost).
Published2017
Pages234
ISBN9780262036160
ReadMar 2021
