Tag Archives: George Mason University

The Minimum Wage Cruelty

Consumer Chatter, , , , , ,

The much-debated $15 minimum wage became the law of the land for millions of citizens in California and New York, but the real impact of the legislation could be devastating. George Mason University economist Don Boudreaux, like a majority of economists, is a staunch believer in the economic theory that if you raise the price of something, everything else being equal, you get less of it.

Thus implementing the $15 minimum wage will destroy jobs for the least skilled members in the workforce. “The vast majority of studies on the minimum wage, I’m estimating 70 percent, show a significant negative effect on minimum wages on the employment of unskilled workers, usually proxy by teen-agers,” Boudreaux says. But not only do you have job loss, Boudreaux reasons, the unskilled workforce, almost 4 percent of them under the age of 25, will lose the valuable opportunity to gain experience in the workplace.

Boudreaux joins host Nick Gillespie to further explain the conundrum in this edition of Reason.TV.

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Why the Debt Doubles

Economizing, , ,

“Present debt is no more than future taxes,” says Mario Villareal, professor of economics at George Mason University’s Institute for Humane Studies. That’s his prelude to the daunting question: Why does the debt double for every president and will eventually double twice in a single term?

“A very sophisticated tool we economists use to think about how individuals make choices is very powerful: common sense,” Villareal says. “Politicians respond to incentives and when facing choices will do what is likely to advance their own objectives.” Villareal explains further in this edition of Learn Liberty.

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Everything Has Its Price

Economizing, , , , ,

Donald Boudreux, professor of economics at George Mason University, tells us that the price of products on the market ensures that there is sufficient supply to our demands, even in times of scarcity. But who decides the price structure? Manufacturers and stores are a large part of the process, but Boudreux tells us in this edition of Learn Liberty that the biggest factor in price determination is you, the consumer.

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The Best is Yet to Come

Economizing, , , ,

Bryan Caplan, professor of economics at George Mason University, says there’s no need for so much gloom and doom when it comes to the state of the world. “Human beings dwell on problems, failures and tragedies, and take solutions, successes and  triumphs for granted,” says Caplan, who refers to the phenomenon as pessimistic bias. But with all of the amazing economic gains in the last 100 years, Caplan says the big picture is still very sunny. In this edition of  “Econ Chronicles” on Learn Liberty, Caplan explains.

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There’s No Turning Back

Political, Hey!, , , , ,

Distinguished professor of economics at George Mason University and syndicated columnist Walter E. Williams says there is such a deep political divide in our nation that he believes conservatives must divorce progressives. “I think it is clear that we have strayed very far from the Constitution,” Williams tells Steve Malzberg of Newmax TV.

“The founders gave us a Constitution where the federal government’s role in our lives was limited. … The federal government (today) is in every single aspect of our lives without any Constitutional amendments, and it seems like there’s no turning back. Most Americans want to have the power to use the federal government to live at the expense of another American. That is, they want their congressmen to use the power of their office to take the rightful property of one American and bring it back to them, whether you talk about farm subsidies, food stamps, business bailouts, food stamps, welfare and thousands of federal programs.”

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