Middle-out Economics
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Middle-out economics is a branch of demand-side macroeconomic theory. It identifies the buying power of the middle class as the necessary ingredient for job creation and economic growth. With consumption typically responsible for two-thirds of the gross domestic product in the Americas consumer spending is key. Middle-out economics maintains it is only the middle class that can create the aggregate demand necessary for business to support full employment levels. Given the wealthy's high propensity to save, middle-out economics holds that large concentrations of wealth are not sufficient cause for job creation. Middle-out economics maintains companies don't hire when they have an abundance of profits; they hire when they have an abundance of customers. The middle-out economic framework is rooted in the scientific fact that economies are complex, adaptive, and ecosystemic. Economies are characterized by the same ‘circle of life’ like feedback loops found in natural ecosystems. Middle-out economics claims a fundamental law of capitalism must be “if workers have no money then businesses have no customers”. In this sense, it claims that the true “job creators” in a capitalistic economy are customers and not rich business people. It maintains that a thriving middle class is the cause of growth and not the consequence of it. Therefore, the only way to prosperity is from the middle-out. Middle-out economics favors governmental policies that help to ensure the buying power of the middle class. Middle-out economics is held in opposition to
Reaganomics Reaganomics (; a portmanteau of ''Reagan'' and ''economics'' attributed to Paul Harvey), or Reaganism, refers to the neoliberal economic policies promoted by U.S. President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s. These policies are commonly associat ...
, sometimes referred to as trickle-down economics. The term middle-out economics was coined by
Eric Liu Eric P. Liu (born 1968) is an American writer, former civil servant, and founder of Citizen University, a non-profit organization promoting civics education and awareness. Liu served as Deputy Assistant to President Clinton for Domestic Polic ...
, a former speechwriter for
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
, and
Nick Hanauer Nicolas Joseph Hanauer (born September 2, 1959) is an American entrepreneur and venture capitalist. Business career Hanauer was born to a secular Jewish family in New York City and raised in Bellevue, Washington. His brother is Adrian Hanauer, ...
, a venture capitalist. Middle-out economics is a part of Bidenomics.


References

Macroeconomic theories {{Macroeconomics-stub