What is the reason for Zero Wage Expansion since 1980?
Demographics have become the go-to explanation for all economic problems during the past few decades. The Federal Reserve announced last year that its research division had concluded in a research paper that the world’s shifting demographics, as longer lifespans and reduced birth rates combine to increase the proportion of the aged within western societies, have rendered central banks powerless to raise long term interest rates. This is one of the more extreme examples of demographics blame (it hasn’t stopped policymakers increasing interest rates since publication). The paper argues that the US economy has entered a new normal as an increase in the average age of the population is likely pushing...

