… is the opening paragraph of my GMU Econ colleague Bryan Caplan’s latest – and superb – blog post at EconLog:
Most countries have a long list of “worker protection” laws. Laws protect workers against low pay, lack of benefits, discrimination, sexual harassment, overtime at normal pay, and much much more. Basic labor economics teaches us to view these laws with skepticism: When you force employers to increase one kind of compensation, they can usually just cut another. And if perchance the law genuinely increases overall compensation, it would be amazing if employment didn’t fall.
Read the entire post and behold how an excellent and wise economist reasons.
Reality not only is not optional, it is often very different from what we first perceive it to be.
