Question
Figure 3-5 on page 59 of your textbook contains a plot of the labor share of income for the US. For this problem, you will
Figure 3-5 on page 59 of your textbook contains a plot of the labor share of income for the US. For this problem, you will construct a similar figure using data from FRED (http://research.stlouisfed.org/). FRED is a repository of economic data. For more information about FRED, consult the Introduction to FRED document on Canvas and/or ask your TA or course instructor.
Download the following data from FRED:
- National income (A032RC1A027NBEA): http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/A032RC1A027NBEA
- National income: Compensation of employees (A033RC1A027NBEA): http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/A033RC1A027NBEA
Be sure that the data frequency is annual and that the date range is from January 1, 1947 to the most recent observations available.
Use the data that you've obtained to create a measure of the labor share of total income by dividing employee compensation by national income for each year. Then answer the following.
- What is the average share of income paid to labor in the US? Round your answer to at least three decimal places.
- In which year did labor receive the highest share of income? Enter year as a four digit integer (e.g., 1983)
- What was the labor share of income in the year that it was highest? Round your answer to at least three decimal places.
- In which year did labor receive the lowest share of income? Enter year as a four digit integer (e.g., 1983)
- What was the labor share of income in the year that it was lowest? Round your answer to at least three decimal places.
- Replicate figure 3-5 from Mankiw by plotting the labor share of income for the US with the y-axis ranging from 0 to 1. Make sure that your plot is clearly labeled. Upload an image of your answer as a jpeg, png, or pdf file.
- Now, plot the labor share of income for the US with the y-axis ranging from 0.58 to 0.68. Make sure that your plot is clearly labeled. Upload an image of your answer as a jpeg, png, or pdf file.
- Mankiw uses his plot of the labor share of income to argue that the labor share of income in the US is approximately constant over time. Based on your work above, do you agree with him? Why or why not?
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