I am tired of seeing a certain argument against the minimum wage that makes absolutely no sense. According to this argument — which Christina Romer is now guilty of making — we should not increase the minimum wage because increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit is an even better way to improve the lot of… Continue reading The garbage logic of the EITC alternative to the minimum wage
Author: Matt Bruenig
Short summary: argument for minimum wage increase
If you don’t want to wade through all of the articles about a possible minimum wage increase, here is the primary argument in favor of such an increase. A modest minimum wage increase at this moment: will increase the wages of low-income workers, will not cause employers to lay off workers, will make other income… Continue reading Short summary: argument for minimum wage increase
The social wage
As I’ve mentioned before, I think the best way to tackle inequality and poverty is directly through cash programs. I am not opposed to programs that try to manipulate market wages in some way, unions and minimum wages for instance. But strategies focused on market wages are very messy and almost certainly inadequate to the… Continue reading The social wage
Transit fares and distribution
There are good arguments for directly subsidizing public transit. Here I analyze whether directly subsidizing public transit is a good thing to do for distributive reasons. The best way to go about this is with an example. Suppose we have a public transit system that is entirely financed by fares. Someone proposes that we drop… Continue reading Transit fares and distribution
What does identitarian deference require?
Freddie’s going after the identitarians again. At the root of his complaint here is the slipperiness of identitarian deference. Roughly, identitarian deference is the idea that privileged individuals should defer to the opinions and views of oppressed individuals, especially on topics relevant to those individuals’ oppression. It sounds straightforward, but can become exceedingly complicated in… Continue reading What does identitarian deference require?