Here’s a letter to the Wall Street Journal:
Editor:
Prof. Anne York insists that much of the gender pay gap is caused by economically unjustified discrimination, insufficient employment opportunities for women, and lack of information (Letters, March 17). If she’s correct, Prof. York – herself flush with this valuable information – has identified a golden opportunity for profit. She can start a business and, by paying underpaid women a bit more than they currently earn, attract teams of productive workers at wages that would yield her a handsome profit as she raises women’s earnings. She would also demonstrate to other entrepreneurs the value of hiring underpaid women and simultaneously bankrupt the knuckle-dragging employers who, stubbornly refusing to pay women what their labor is worth, would be unable to adequately staff their firms.
Prof. York might protest, confessing to have no business skills. No problem. Now that she’s revealed in the pages of America’s premier business publication the reality of an economically unjustified pay gap – the existence of a bonanza of underpriced assets – the profit-hungry readers of your pages, many of whom are quite skilled at business, will surely leap to take advantage of this outstanding profit opportunity.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Professor of Economics
and
Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
