This paper examines how closely the minimum wage has been set to the most popularly stated goals of minimum-wage policy. I first estimate these goals: the minimum-wage rate at which the relevant labor demand is unitary elastic--maximizing the total earnings of minimum-wage workers (about...

The rise of the Industrial Revolution is often depicted as a cause of hazardous working conditions and is skillfully epitomized in William Blake’s tale of a child chimney sweeper. Conventional wisdom puts firm profit in conflict with occupational safety. We reexamine this argument noting that...

Previous literature generally finds greater fiscal decentralization associated with faster economic growth. A separate, but related, literature finds greater fiscal decentralization associated with improved government performance, and stronger constraints on the Leviathan behavior of...

Purpose – The paper aims to apply the ideas found in the paper of Adam Smith, the pre‐eminent eighteenth century economist, to the field of management. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides a brief biography of Smith, summarizes his main contributions, and then applies them to...

The international development community has encouraged investment in physical and human capital as a precursor to economic progress. Recent evidence shows, however, that increases in capital do not always lead to increases in output. We develop a growth model where the allocation and...

The international development community has encouraged investment in physical and human capital as a precursor to economic progress. Recent evidence shows, however, that increases in capital do not always lead to increases in output. We develop a growth model where the allocation and...

This paper reexamines whether fiscal decentralization constrains Leviathan government. Using panel data for Pennsylvania, we compare actual property tax rates to the Leviathan revenue-maximizing rates for municipalities, school districts, and counties. Using spatial econometric methods we also...