The classic book, Economics in One Lesson reduces all of economics to a similar lesson:The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.The lesson of Chapter…
CA min wage goes up ==> CA employment declines
CA min wage goes up ==> CA employment declines
29 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, minimum wage, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking, unemployment Tags: California
15 years of US research on the minimum wage elasticity of employment
04 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic history, economics of regulation, labour economics, labour supply, minimum wage, poverty and inequality
It’s time to pick up my recent thread of posts on the minimum wage (most recently in this post). I want to return for a moment to more conventional research on the minimum wage, specifically looking at the effects of higher minimum wages on employment. The majority of minimum wage research has focused on estimating…
15 years of US research on the minimum wage elasticity of employment
Effects of the minimum wage on the nonprofit sector
19 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic history, labour economics, labour supply, minimum wage
After a few days of ‘rest’ (by which I really mean some intensely long work days), I’m going to pick up again on my recent series of posts about the minimum wage (see here for the most recent post), but returning to more familiar ground – the disemployment effects of the minimum wage. The story…
Effects of the minimum wage on the nonprofit sector
Minimum Wages, Efficiency, and Welfare
17 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, econometerics, labour economics, labour supply, minimum wage
Recently Alex raised some doubts, to say the least, about the Card-Krueger view of minimum wage hikes. Well, it turns out there is more, and a new consensus is on the verge of forming. Here are David Berger, Kyle Herkenhoff, and Simon Mongey, from a new Econometrica piece: Many argue that minimum wages can prevent efficiency […]
Minimum Wages, Efficiency, and Welfare
How employers respond to minimum wage increases
15 Feb 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, labour economics, labour supply, minimum wage, unemployment Tags: offsetting behavior, unintended consequences
In yesterday’s post, I made reference to this 2021 article by Jeffrey Clemens (University of California at San Diego), published in the Journal of Economic Perspectives (open access). Clemens puts forward an interesting perspective on the debate about the observed employment impacts of the minimum wage (or lack thereof):…I contend that controversies over the economics of minimum wages…
How employers respond to minimum wage increases
Two examples of wages rising for one occupation leading workers to move into it from other occupations
29 Dec 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, minimum wage, occupational choice, poverty and inequality
See $500,000 Pay, Predictable Hours: How Dermatology Became the ‘It’ Job in Medicine: Americans’ newfound obsession with skin care has medical students flocking to this specialty by Te-Ping Chen of The WSJ. Excerpts:”Four-day workweeks, double the salary of some colleagues and no emails at night. If those perks sound like they belong to a few vaunted…
Two examples of wages rising for one occupation leading workers to move into it from other occupations
The Minimum Wage, Rent Control, and Vacancies or Who Searches?
31 Jul 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, econometerics, economic history, economics of regulation, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, minimum wage, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, regulation, rentseeking, unemployment, urban economics Tags: housing affordability, regressive left, rent control
In an interesting new paper Federal Reserve economists Marianna Kudlyak, Murat Tasci and Didem Tüzemen look at what happens to job vacancy postings when the minimum wage increases. The vacancy data in our analysis come from the job openings data from the Conference Board as a part of its Help Wanted OnLine (HWOL) data series. […]
The Minimum Wage, Rent Control, and Vacancies or Who Searches?
Price controls deter voluntary, wealth-creating transactions: CA minimum wages increase to $20/hour
17 Jun 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, labour economics, minimum wage, unemployment
When staking out a position, it is rare for a politician to acknowledge any tradeoffs. For example, a politician in favor of a minimum wage increase will praise the increased wages for workers, but won’t acknowledge that businesses will shut down or fire workers. That job is left to those on the other wide of…
Price controls deter voluntary, wealth-creating transactions: CA minimum wages increase to $20/hour
New York restaurants find a new way to respond to the minimum wage
17 May 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, entrepreneurship, labour economics, labour supply, minimum wage
The New York Times (paywalled, but also available here) reported last month:At Sansan Chicken in Long Island City, Queens, the cashier beamed a wide smile and recommended the fried chicken sandwich.Or maybe she suggested the tonkatsu — it was hard to tell, because the internet connection from her home in the Philippines was spotty.Romy, who…
New York restaurants find a new way to respond to the minimum wage
Unfettered: Fishback 25 Years Later
17 Jan 2024 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, economic history, economics of information, economics of regulation, health and safety, history of economic thought, human capital, industrial organisation, international economics, labour economics, labour supply, liberalism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, minimum wage, occupational choice, occupational regulation, poverty and inequality, unemployment, unions
A quarter century ago, economist Price Fishback published “Operations of ‘Unfettered’ Labor Markets: Exit and Voice in American Labor Markets at the Turn of the Century” in the prestigious Journal of Economic Literature. Fishback’s article is packed with insight… and understatement. But let’s back up. Virtually every standard history textbook describes U.S. labor markets before…
Unfettered: Fishback 25 Years Later
Claudia Goldin: “What’s ‘Greedy Work’ and Why Is It a Problem?” | People…
18 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, economic history, gender, history of economic thought, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, minimum wage, occupational choice Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
Is Discrimination Still Causing The Gender Pay Gap With Claudia Goldin
13 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, discrimination, econometerics, economic history, gender, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, minimum wage, occupational choice Tags: gender wage gap, sex discrimination
California dreaming no more
11 Dec 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economic growth, entrepreneurship, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, minimum wage, Public Choice, public economics Tags: California, Florida
Prize lecture: David Card, Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences …
30 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic history, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, minimum wage, unemployment
Book Review: Race and Culture by Thomas Sowell
29 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, discrimination, economic history, gender, growth disasters, growth miracles, human capital, labour economics, labour supply, law and economics, Marxist economics, minimum wage, occupational choice, politics - USA, property rights, Public Choice, Thomas Sowell
Thomas Sowell is a skilled writer with a powerful ability to combine historical, social science and free-market perspectives. He cuts through the noise and doesn’t mince his words on the sensitive topics of race and culture. In Race and Culture Sowell argues against two common social science doctrines: 1) that all races are equal and […]
Book Review: Race and Culture by Thomas Sowell
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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