Metro areas all over the country are trying to nurture startups, without much luck. The Gateway City is succeeding. What’s its secret?
Economy
Open Letter to the Class of 2020
The following letter (lightly edited for this reissue) was posted in late 2010 (many comments there, worth a read). In the last several weeks, I’ve been asked by a variety of friends and colleagues to post it again. I wish I could report that it’s out of date, but the trends it discusses have worsened… Read more »
The “Price of Paying Taxes” Is Highest for Lower-Income Americans
Tax day is upon us, and while most of us growl and bear the annual time (and money) spent on tax preparation, less attention has been paid to how the costs of tax compliance particularly hurt low-income workers. It’s bad enough that we collectively spent 3.24 billion hours, or nearly 370,000 years, on tax preparation… Read more »
The Gender Gap in Soccer
Last week, five members of the US women’s national soccer team filed a wage-discrimination suit against the US Soccer Federation (USF). The players claim that despite generating significantly higher revenue than the men’s team (USF projects the women’s team will generate $17.6 million in gross revenues in fiscal year 2017 compared with the men’s $9.1… Read more »
Why It’s Too Soon to Declare Victory on Broadband Access
The Federal Communications Commission’s lauded expansion of its “Lifeline” program for low-income broadband access could end up being less than promised.
Where Inequality Begins
A new report shows that disparities in job quality may be a big contributing factor to the racial wealth gap.
How to Make More Good Blue-Collar Jobs
If you’re looking for a silver lining in the dark cloud of the Trump candidacy, you might notice that it has brought some attention to the worsening state of white people without a college degree. It’s not that the world is rosy for non-whites without college degrees, of course, but on average they were starting… Read more »
Potential Downsides of a $15 Minimum Wage
Much of the leftosphere has been uncritically cheering the likelihood that California will move its minimum age to $15/hour. I am therefore glad that Kevin Drum has raised a cautionary note. As Kevin points out, modest raises in the minimum wage do not seem to produce increased unemployment, but this would not be a modest… Read more »
The Truth About Trade and Job Losses
Trade agreements aren’t the principal factor to blame for the majority of U.S. job losses or the decline in earnings.
The GOP Threat to High-Skilled Immigration
Tough talk on illegal immigration has been a signature issue for both Republican presidential contenders Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz – you’d be hard-pressed to find a voter who hasn’t heard of Trump’s proposal to “build a wall” on the U.S.-Mexico border. But perhaps less well-known are these candidates’ equally damaging and retrograde views… Read more »
