I had another dream, I had another life
You know how I’ve been preaching against zoning laws over the last year? Well, allow me to do so again. According to Richard Reeves and Dimitrios Halikias at the Brookings Institution, “the movement of less-skilled workers to higher-growth areas has not risen in recent years, a break with the historical pattern[.]” It seems that regulation is … Read more
A new study out of George Mason University looks at government barriers to upward economic mobility. Economist Steve Horwitz investigates three main factors: Occupational licensing Zoning laws and other small business regulations Regressive taxation As he explains in the opening of the study, A common assumption in public policy is that government regulation of the … Read more
A recent event panel at the Brookings Institution looked at a number of possible policy solutions to improve social mobility for children across the nation. Take notice that most deal with on-the-ground local issues: Target housing vouchers more effectively. Build public housing in low-poverty areas, instead of high-poverty areas. Reform exclusionary zoning laws. Better enforcement … Read more
One of the things I learned in grad school is that figuring out how much people pay in taxes can be really, really complicated. The first complication is that you have to consider not just the federal taxes, but also state and local taxes. That’s actually not too bad. What gets a lot trickier, however, … Read more
Income inequality is a big deal, and the biggest addition to the controversial discussion recently has Piketty’s tome Capital in the 21st Century. In very simple terms, Piketty’s argument was that when you get a greater return on capital investments than the rate at which the economy as a whole grows, then wealth invariably piles up … Read more