Year after year voters affirm that the economy is the issue that matters most to them. One particularly contentious topic is the minimum wage. Liberals argue that it’s too low to lift full-time workers above the poverty line. Conservatives, however, point out that increasing the minimum wage would hurt more people than it would help, as companies lay off workers and raise prices in response to escalating costs. But would the benefits of higher wages outweigh the costs of increased … [Read more...]
Earned leave time in Minnesota
"Lack of earned leave hurts Minnesota families," is a new blog post by Zack Eichten, a junior economics and political science major at CSB|SJU. Zack is currently an intern at the Minnesota Budget Project, a position funded through the Economics Department's Fruth Summer Internship program. Two important points stand out: "Currently over one million – or 4 out of 10 – Minnesota workers lack earned sick leave, and low-income workers who can least afford to take time off work are also the … [Read more...]
Right-to-Work: How We Got Here
Image: By Justin Ormont (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)] Right-to-work laws returned to public discourse in February 2011 when Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin proposed Act 10 to cut Wisconsin’s budget. Act 10 was not itself a right-to-work law, but it contained many of the same ideas and goals such as restricting the collective bargaining power of unions. Act 10 shocked the country because Wisconsin had always been a union stronghold. It caused many … [Read more...]
Is the U.S. the Next Greece?
Many people have compared the United States to Greece in terms of government debt. Is that a fair comparison? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBaftlij1NA … [Read more...]
What next? Economic implications of Brexit
BRITAIN STUNS WORLD WITH VOTE TO LEAVE E.U. is the headline on the New York Times homepage. Stock markets plunged, the values of the pound sterling and of the euro relative to the dollar fell sharply, and Prime Minister David Cameron announced he would resign by October. So, where do we go from here? I'll discuss this question with Roshini Rajkumar on WCCO Radio this Sunday at 12:35 CDT. For now, three items bear watching in the coming days and weeks. Article 50 You’ll hear this … [Read more...]