By Kerry Jackson, Pacific Research Institute Just as he rejected pleas to suspend the execrable Assembly Bill 5 to ease the financial squeeze caused by the pandemic lockdowns, Gov. Gavin Newsom has declined to put off the state’s coming minimum-wage hike. The small businesses that worked hard enough to survive 2020’s downturn might be broken […]
Tag: wages
The COVID Crisis Shows How the Postal Service Can Be Saved from Collapse
By Steve Pociask, American Consumer Institute As businesses nationwide start to map out reopening for the near-term and the post-pandemic world, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is also facing its own experience in hitting the reset button. New Postmaster General (PMG) Louis DeJoy recently took the reins of the organization following the departure of PMG […]
What Life Would Be Like on Planet Bernie
Tom Schatz, President, Citizens Against Government Waste In a galaxy not too far away and a little too close to Earth lies Planet Bernie. Everything is free from birth to death. There is a government program for education, medical care, housing, and retirement, all 100 percent guaranteed and paid for. No one […]
A European Minimum Wage Is the Next Bad Idea from Brussels
By Bill Wirtz, courtesy of the Austrian Economics Center The incoming European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs has only about one thing in common with yours truly: he’s Luxembourgish. Nicolas Schmit is a lifelong socialist and has been Minister of Labor in Luxembourg for as far as I can remember. Bureaucrat-made-politician, Schmit […]
Worker representation on corporate boards boosts investment
“Worker representation in the boardroom increases capital formation” Courtesy of IZA A fundamental question societies face is whether and how to involve stakeholders, in particular workers, in corporate decision-making. Many countries, particularly in continental Europe, grant workers formal authority in firms’ decision-making. Such shared governance or codetermination institutions include worker-elected directors on company boards. […]
Automation undermines men’s marriage prospects
“How the rise of industrial robots affects family behavior” Courtesy of IZA Million of workers across the world feel the growing pressure and fear of machines replacing their jobs. Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, robots, and the Internet have already transformed the nature of jobs and will continue to rapidly change our labor […]
London Uber ban a “dark day”
“TfL’s effective ban on Uber represents a ‘dark day’ for consumers and drivers” By Shanker Singham, courtesy of IEA Transport for London’s effective ban on Uber in London represents a dark day for competition and progress in the UK. Uber – and other platforms like it – give consumers real alternatives […]
Don’t Beat Up on the NCAA: Players Are Compensated in Different Ways
By Ann Miller, George Mason University In late September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Fair Pay to Play Act into law. Under this state law, most postsecondary educational institutions and collegiate athletic organizations can no longer prohibit athletes from earning compensation from their “name, image, or likeness” being used in advertisements. This […]
Yes, the government needs to do something about obesity
By Jason Peirce, George Mason University As our gross domestic product has risen, so has our body-mass index. This is not a coincidence but is instead a logical consequence of free markets. Our dietary preferences that evolved to prevent starvation are now promoting obesity and its related diseases. The market magic that efficiently […]
Deregulating teacher labor benefits UK students
Courtesy of IZA Teacher markets, like most public sector labor markets, are often characterized by a large bureaucracy and lack of flexibility. Teacher pay typically follows schedules tied to tenure and does not reward teaching performance. What happens when such heavily regulated labor markets […]
