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Bad Economic Justifications for Minimum Wage Hikes

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What is the economic case for increasing the federal minimum wage? To even posit that question sounds odd. Proponents of a higher minimum wage claim that the policy change could alleviate all sorts of economic and social ills. But it’s worth assessing, from first principles, the economic arguments advanced for how the minimum wage level should be set. In a new brief, Cato scholar Ryan Bourne argues that the metrics that $15 minimum wage advocates use to make the case for substantial minimum wage hikes are not, on their own, economically sensible benchmarks by which to set minimum wage rates.

Principles for the 2020 Surface Transportation Reauthorization

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America’s surface transportation infrastructure needs significant improvements and rehabilitation, yet Congress is uncertain about how to do this. Some want to significantly increase federal spending on infrastructure. Others want to end deficit financing of transportation and end federal restrictions that reduce the efficiency and effectiveness of the funds that are spent. In a new paper, Cato scholar Randal O’Toolepresents three principles that Congress should apply to a new surface transportation funding bill. These principles are pay-as-you-go, user fees, and subsidiarity.

Making Sense of the Minimum Wage: A Roadmap for Navigating Recent Research

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For decades, debates over the minimum wage have been tense among advocates, policymakers, and professional researchers alike. While professional economists were once broadly skeptical of the benefits of a minimum wage, that consensus has eroded. Following decades of moderate minimum wage changes, select cities and states have recently passed substantial increases. In a new paper, economics professor Jeffrey Clemens discusses four ways in which the case for large minimum wage increases is either mistaken or overstated.

Experts

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Thomas A. Firey
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Walter Olson
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Randal O'Toole
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Alan Reynolds
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Julian Sanchez
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Peter Van Doren

Subtopics

  • Antitrust
  • Environmental Regulation
  • FDA and Drug Regulation
  • Financial Regulation
  • International Regulation
  • Internet Governance and Regulation
  • Labor Law and Regulation
  • Privatization
  • Science and Public Policy
  • State and Local Regulations
  • Telecom Regulation
  • The Nanny State
  • Urban Growth and Transportation

Featured

Blog

Nevada’s T‑Mobile Deal and the State of Antitrust Law

By Walter Olson.

Give Nevada's Attorney General $30 million for a discretionary fund, and he'll drop his objection to your merger.

Regulation Vol. 42 No. 4

Comment

By Robert W. Poole Jr..
Regulation Vol. 42 No. 4

Do We Need a Passenger Facility Charge?

By Shih-Hsien Chuang.
Commentary

Bernie Sanders Wants to End At‐​Will Employment, and That’s a Truly Bad Idea That Would Increase Unemployment

By Ryan Bourne. Business Insider.

Democratic presidential candidates continue to demand risky and radical plans to overhaul the way Americans work.

Blog

What’s the Matter with Significance?

By Peter Van Doren and David Kemp.

Instead of relying on an arbitrary level of statistical significance, regulators and researchers should present the public with their findings and levels of confidence and allow people to come to their own conclusions.

Blog

Happy Repeal Day!

By David Boaz.

Today is a great day for freedom. On this day in 1933, the 21st Amendment was ratified, thus repealing Prohibition.

Subtopics

  • Antitrust
  • Environmental Regulation
  • FDA and Drug Regulation
  • Financial Regulation
  • International Regulation
  • Internet Governance and Regulation
  • Labor Law and Regulation
  • Privatization
  • Science and Public Policy
  • State and Local Regulations
  • Telecom Regulation
  • The Nanny State
  • Urban Growth and Transportation

Multimedia

Sports Betting Regulation and State Revenues

Featuring Doug Kellogg and Caleb O. Brown. December 6, 2019.

Tanja Porčnik discusses consumerism and bank regulation on TV Slovenija 2

Featuring Tanja Porčnik. December 5, 2019.

Robert Zubrin on The Case for Space

Featuring Robert Zubrin. December 1, 2019.

Jeffrey A. Singer discusses the medical perspective surrounding drugs from Adderall to alcohol on Arizona Talks

Featuring Jeffrey A. Singer. November 30, 2019.
More Multimedia

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