The federal government has just set the record for the longest period of time without an increase in the minimum wage to keep up with inflation. The minimum wage has now been ignored for over a decade and Kevin Drum…
Blog Archives
What immigration crisis?
The Pew Research Center reports data that unauthorized immigrants in the US are at the lowest level in a decade of gradual declines. Meanwhile, more and more Americans are favoring more legal immigration, so Americans aren’t suddenly becoming more nativist. …
Posted in Globalization & International, Labor
If you pay them, they will come.
Most immigrants to the United States come because of higher wages. If you look at any two countries in the world, the net migration almost always flows from low-wage nations to high wage nations because the biggest draw for migrants…
Posted in Globalization & International, Labor
Affirmative action for the rich
There are several ways that rich kids buy advantages for college. First is years of expensive high-quality education that begins in exclusive private preschools that cost more than full tuition at most private colleges. Then add in expensive summer camps…
Posted in Labor, Public Finance
Go to college to get an MRS degree.
As a kid I heard the joke that Mennonite women in my mother’s generation went to college to get an MRS degree and indeed, my own mother dropped out of college soon after she got married. Of course, my dad…
Posted in Labor
Is there a better way to educate smart people?
Alia Wong at The Atlantic reports about a new Harvard study that surveyed roughly 500 economics Ph.D. candidates at eight elite universities, and found that 18 percent of them experienced moderate or severe symptoms of depression and anxiety. That’s more than…
Posted in Labor
“no other nation has the equivalent of American college sports.”
College football might be in the news because of CTE lawsuits that might end the game, but Saahil Desai at The Atlantic points out other problems with college sports. He argues that college athletics are sucking resources out of our…
Posted in Labor
