Joined by Urban Institute president Robert Reischauer and Alan Blinder, an economist who served on President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisors and as vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Penner and Sawhill met recently at the Urban Institute with policy experts and journalists. This book focuses on productivity and the future of the economy, inequality, and the challenge faced by the Baby Boom generation, which are the key issues the candidates are discussing in this campaign. We now have four more quarters of data on productivity and that has pushed the direction of thinking on productivity in a very optimistic direction. A couple of years ago there was no reason for anything but pessimism. But still this is the right question.
Nothing is as important for living standards than the productivity growth rate.
The second issue is inequality. This problem has stopped getting worse, but there is very little evidence that it is getting better. And the third issue is Social Security and how we will pay for it. These authors bring good sense, good judgment, and good writing to bear on these three issues. They are not just technical economic issues, but also moral and ethical issues.