Economics Commons^™

Putting The Minimum Wage Debate In A Historical Context: Card And Krueger Meet George Stigler, Richard V. Burkhauser, Kenneth A. Couch, David Wittenburg

Center for Policy Research

Half a century ago George Stigler stated that evaluation of minimum wage policy should revolve around two questions: Does such legislation diminish poverty? Are there efficient alternatives? We argue that historically these were and continue to be appropriate questions to ask with respect to this policy. We then replicate and evaluate the analysis in Chapter 9 of Myth and Measurement: The New Economics of the Minimum Wage with regards to these questions. Given the evolution of the Earned Income Tax Credit we conclude that, aside from nostalgia, it is hard to explain the continued support for increasing the minimum wage …

The Nunn-Domenici Usa Tax: Analysis And Comparisons, Murray L. Weidenbaum

Murray Weidenbaum Publications

A comparison showing the pros and cons of different tax plans: the USA Tax Plan, a Flat Tax, Value-Added Tax, and Retail Sales Tax.

Labor Earnings And Household Income Mobility In Reunified Germany: A Comparison Of The Eastern And Western States, Richard Hauser, Holger Fabig

Center for Policy Research

Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) we compare the economic mobility of persons living in the eastern and western states of Germany between 1990 and 1995. We find that gross individual labor income mobility was initially much higher in the east than in the west following reunification, but by 1995 the gap had been greatly reduced. We find similar results when we change our measures to more accurately reflect economic well-being. Gross equivalent labor income and net equivalent income mobility were initially higher in the eastern states than in the western states but there has been convergence over …

Government Policy And Small Business Financing, Murray L. Weidenbaum

Murray Weidenbaum Publications

Small businesses are hurt by government policy and regulation.

Transitions Between Child Care Arrangements For German Pre-Schoolers, Jan Ondrich, C. Katharina Spiess

Center for Policy Research

This study uses a descriptive statistical approach to analyze the dynamics of child care for German pre-schoolers of all ages. Age-specific and duration-specific hazard rates for leaving informal care and for leaving formal care are calculated for various risk groups. Differences in the hazard rates across risk groups indicate the presence of important factors affecting transitions. The factors that we examine relate to household characteristics, the employment status of the mother, and regional supply. We find strong support for the hypotheses that households with fewer pre-schoolers and working mothers have greater demand for pre-school formal care. This demand also appears …

It's Time To Cut Government Regulations, Murray L. Weidenbaum, Melinda Warren

Murray Weidenbaum Publications

This piece shows how the costs of regulation affect consumers and recommends that Congress should conduct benefit-cost analyses when proposing regulation.

A New Look At Heath-Care Reform, Murray L. Weidenbaum

Murray Weidenbaum Publications

The time is ripe for taking a new look at health-care reform. Between a free market and a governmental approach, the operation of market forces often proceeds more rapidly and more effectively in responding to serious problems than do the more ponderous decision-making mechanisms of the public sector. Indeed, often the reduction of governmental impediments to competition represents the most efficient and least costly solution. Medical care is no exception.

It's Time To Cut Government Regulations, Murray L. Weidenbaum, Melinda Warren

Murray Weidenbaum Publications

Congress should establish a committee on regulatory reform. Changes that would be helpful include: 1) require benefit-cost analysis for new regulation; 2) enforce a fixed timetable for agencies to issue permits; 3) emphasize objectives sought rather than precise methods to be used; 4) use risk assessment for achieving environmental, health, and safety protection; and 5) promote regulatory justice.

The Competitive Advantage Of The Inner City: Does Race Matter?, Philip S. Hart

William Monroe Trotter Institute Publications

Following up on his important work on the competitive advantage of nations, economist Michael Porter has turned his attention to the competitive advantage of the inner city. In his work on the competitiveness of nations—a five-year study often leading trading nations—Porter found that no nation was competitive in everything. He noted that competitive success tends to concentrate in particular industries and groups of interconnected industries, or clusters.

By turning his attention on the inner city, Porter has helped to reinforce the emerging sense that it is important to concentrate on the assets of such locations rather than on their liabilities. …

In Search Of Empirical Evidence That Links Rent And User Cost, Dixie M. Blackley, James R. Follain

Center for Policy Research

Most models of the rental housing market assume a close linkage between the level of residential rents and the after-tax user cost of rental housing capital. However, little empirical evidence exists to establish the strength of this linkage or the speed with which rents adjust to changes in user cost or tax policy. This paper develops and estimates an econometric model of the rental housing market in order to shed light on both of these issues. United States annual data for 1964 through 1993 are used to generate two-stage least squares estimates of a four equation structural model. Although the …

How To Restore Employee Trust In Management: A New Social Contract For The American Workplace, Murray L. Weidenbaum

Murray Weidenbaum Publications

The number of layoffs and the amount of downsizing in corporate America are both happening at unprecedented rates. Firing workers has falsely become the ultimate management tool to success. The old social contract of work in exchange for fair pay and some measure of job security is deteriorating. Accordingly, this paper introduces a new social order that replaces paternalism with partnership, views employees as value-adding resources, and focuses both employers and employees on meeting the customers' needs and desires.

A New Social Contract For The American Workplace: From Paternalism To Partnering, Murray L. Weidenbaum, Kenneth W. Chilton

Murray Weidenbaum Publications

As American business struggles to cope with global competition, technological breakthroughs, and various forms of deregulation, the workplace is being thrown into turmoil. Against this backdrop, 1994 is also on pace to set a record for publicly announced downsizings, most of them justified under the banner of "restructuring." This study is the first comprehensive look at this evolving picture.

Subsidizing Increased Employment For The Urban Poor: What Labor Market Problems Might Justify It?, Timothy J. Bartik

Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Access To Capital And Technical Assistance, Richard J. Ward

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article summarizes and analyzes the views of select leaders in business, labor, banking, the government, and academia with regard to the constraints, obstacles, and recommendations to achieve economic growth in Massachusetts. The role of the state government in addressing these issues receives special attention. Access to capital and technical assistance had been regarded by many as the key constraint, particularly during the recession of the early 1990s. The author analyzes inconvenient government systems, bottlenecks, and bureaucracy as throttling the flow of capital to small-business entrepreneurs. The analysis concludes, however, that unless the state cum federal government finds ways to …

How Domestic Regulation Handicaps U.S. Global Business, Murray L. Weidenbaum

Murray Weidenbaum Publications

Regulatory reform would benefit private industry. Some suggestions include: benefit-cost analysis, risk assessment, and emphasizing objectives to be achieved rather than precise methods to be used in complying with regulation.

The Savings-Exempt Income Tax (And The Companion Business Cash-Flow Tax), Murray L. Weidenbaum

Murray Weidenbaum Publications

The United States would benefit greatly by reforming the national system of taxation to encourage more saving and investment. Doing so would help to achieve faster economic growth, higher levels of unemployment, and smaller budget deficits. Specifically, a savings-exempt income tax on individuals and families coupled with a companion cash-flow tax on business should replace the existing federal income taxes.

Contributors: Vol 17 No. 2, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Contributors list of Vol. 17 (1994): Pacific Studies Full Issue 2

Albert B. Robillard's Review Of Stephen Henningham And R. J. May With Lulu Turner's Resources, Development, And Politics In The Pacific Islands, Albert B. Robillard

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.

Vol. 17 No. 2 (1994): Pacific Studies Front Matter, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Pacific Studies is published two times a year by The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies, Brigham Young University Hawai‘i #1979, 55–220 Kulanui Street, Lāʻie, Hawai‘i 96762, but responsibility for opinions expressed in the articles rests with the authors alone. Subscription rate is US$40.00 yearly, payable to The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies. The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies (formerly The Pacific Institute) is an organization funded by Brigham Young University Hawai‘i. The Center assists the University in meeting its cultural and educational goals by undertaking a program of teaching, research, and …

Vol. 17 No. 2 (1994): Pacific Studies Full Issue, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Pacific Studies is published two times a year by The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies, Brigham Young University Hawai‘i #1979, 55–220 Kulanui Street, Lāʻie, Hawai‘i 96762, but responsibility for opinions expressed in the articles rests with the authors alone. Subscription rate is US$40.00 yearly, payable to The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies. The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies (formerly The Pacific Institute) is an organization funded by Brigham Young University Hawai‘i. The Center assists the University in meeting its cultural and educational goals by undertaking a program of teaching, research, and …

Books Received And Book Notices, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Book Listing for the Vol 17, No 2 Edition of the Pacific Studies Journal

The Evolving Corporate Board, Murray L. Weidenbaum

Murray Weidenbaum Publications

Due to criticisms of corporate boards in the early 1990s, reform proposals are discussed to improve corporate governance.

Providing Quality Leadership In Roxbury: A Profile Of Leon T. Nelson, Harold Horton

Trotter Review

Poor leadership is often the cause for the inept functioning and eventual collapse of an organization or agency. This is because the leader sets the tone and to a great extent determines whether or not an organization will be viable. Leon T. Nelson, president of the Greater Roxbury Chamber of Commerce, has done his utmost to live up to the organization's motto, "Quod facis bene fac," which means doing whatever you do as well as you possibly can.

In a community that underwent drastic demographic changes during the 1970s and 1980s, when numerous businesses led the "white flight" to suburbia, …

Richard Jackson's Review Of John Fallon's The Papua New Guinea Economy: Prospects For Recovery, Reform, And Sustained Growth, Richard Jackson

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.

Heath-Care Policy, Murray L. Weidenbaum

Murray Weidenbaum Publications

This paper examines the Clinton health-care reform proposal.

Public Policies For The Working Poor: The Earned Income Tax Credit Versus Minimum Wage Legislation, Richard V. Burkhauser, Andrew J. Glenn

Center for Policy Research

This paper first documents the decades-long erosion of the link between low wages and low household income. It then simulates the consequences of this determination on the relative gains of programs designed to help the working poor—minimum wage increases under the Fair Labor Standards Act and increases in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Using data from the Current Population Survey it is found that increases in the EITC between 1989 and 1992 were far more target-efficient than was the increase in the minimum wage from $3.35 to $4.25 and that the 1993 extension of the EITC is far more …

How Government Reduces Employment, Murray L. Weidenbaum

Murray Weidenbaum Publications

Murray Weidenbaum shows how the federal government conducts many activities that affect the ability of the private sector to create jobs.

How Government Reduces Employment, Murray L. Weidenbaum

Murray Weidenbaum Publications

Government mandates contribute to reducing the ability of the private sector to create jobs. But ways need to be developed that can offset this.

The Case For The Savings-Exempt Income Tax, Murray L. Weidenbaum

Murray Weidenbaum Publications

Murray Weidenbaum gives his reasons why he supports a savings-exempt income tax.

The U.S./Ec Relationship: Friends And Competitors, Murray L. Weidenbaum

Murray Weidenbaum Publications

The United States and the European Community need to develop a better understanding of how to simultaneously be both friends and competitors. U.S. firms with facilities in the EC will benefit from this regional trade zone while others will find difficulties trying to export goods to the EC. The author concludes that he expects the United States and the European Community will work more closely in the 21st century.