The distribution of power -- not shortcomings in American education -- explains skyrocketing economic inequality, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman writes in his New York Times column today.

Summarizing the conventional wisdom, Krugman notes that everyone from corporate chieftains to centrist think tanks is fond of the notion that American workers suffer from a "skills gap" that leaves them ill-equipped to keep pace with rapid technological change. Train workers for the jobs of tomorrow, the narrative goes, and you'll be well on your way to ameliorating America's inequality problem.

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But while education is undeniably vital, Krugman notes that this narrative is divorced from reality. First, he points out, productivity growth has slowed after soaring in the mid-1990s; purveyors of the "skills gap" storyline, however, would have you believe that we're in an age of inexorably quickening technological change.

Moreover, if the conventional wisdom were true, employers should be offering "premium wages" to highly educated workers, Krugman contends. But they aren't. And then there's the inconvenient fact that well-educated workers haven't seen their inflation-adjusted earnings budge since the 1990s.

What gives?

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In the final analysis, Krugman posits, people who want to make inequality a story about education are skirting discussion of a much more fundamental issue -- how power is distributed in this country: