1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910453895403321

Autore

Neumark David

Titolo

Minimum wages [[electronic resource] /] / David Neumark and William L. Wascher

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge, Mass., : MIT Press, c2008

ISBN

0-262-29217-3

0-262-28056-6

1-4356-9184-9

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (388 p.)

Altri autori (Persone)

WascherWilliam L

Disciplina

331.2/30973

Soggetti

Minimum wage - United States

Income distribution - United States

Labor supply - United States

Minimum wage

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [335]-357) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction -- The history of the minimum wage in the United States -- The effects of minimum wages on employment -- Minimum wage effects on the distribution of wages and earnings -- The effects of minimum wages on the distribution of incomes -- The effects of minimum wages on skills -- The effects of minimum wages on prices and profits -- The political economy of minimum wages -- Summary and conclusions.

Sommario/riassunto

This is a comprehensive review of evidence on the effect of minimum wages on employment, skills, wage and income distributions, and longer-term labour market outcomes, and concludes that the minimum wage is not a good policy tool.

Minimum wages exist in more than one hundred countries, both industrialized and developing. The United States passed a federal minimum wage law in 1938 and has increased the minimum wage and its coverage at irregular intervals ever since; in addition, as of the beginning of 2008, thirty-two states and the District of Columbia had established a minimum wage higher than the federal level, and



numerous other local jurisdictions had in place "living wage" laws. Over the years, the minimum wage has been popular with the public, controversial in the political arena, and the subject of vigorous debate among economists over its costs and benefits. In this book, David Neumark and William Wascher offer a comprehensive overview of the evidence on the economic effects of minimum wages. Synthesizing nearly two decades of their own research and reviewing other research that touches on the same questions, Neumark and Wascher discuss the effects of minimum wages on employment and hours, the acquisition of skills, the wage and income distributions, longer-term labor market outcomes, prices, and the aggregate economy. Arguing that the usual focus on employment effects is too limiting, they present a broader, empirically based inquiry that will better inform policymakers about the costs and benefits of the minimum wage. Based on their comprehensive reading of the evidence, Neumark and Wascher argue that minimum wages do not achieve the main goals set forth by their supporters. They reduce employment opportunities for less-skilled workers and tend to reduce their earnings; they are not an effective means of reducing poverty; and they appear to have adverse longer-term effects on wages and earnings, in part by reducing the acquisition of human capital. The authors argue that policymakers should instead look for other tools to raise the wages of low-skill workers and to provide poor families with an acceptable standard of living.



2.

Record Nr.

UNISA996199888903316

Autore

Byrne D. S (David S.), <1947, >

Titolo

Complexity theory and the social sciences : an introduction / / David Byrne

Pubbl/distr/stampa

London ; ; New York : , : Routledge, , 1998

ISBN

1-134-71473-4

0-203-00391-8

0-203-15842-3

Edizione

[1st edition]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (312 pages)

Disciplina

300/.1/5118

Soggetti

Social sciences - Mathematical models

Chaotic behavior in systems

Social sciences - Research

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 189-197) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Book Cover; Title; Contents; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Understanding the complex; The reality of the complex: the complexity of the real; Complexity and the quantitative programme in social science; Analysing social complexity; Complex spaces: regions, cities and neighbourhoods in a complex world; The complex character of health and illness; Complexity, education and change; Complexity and policy: the limits to urban governance; Conclusion; Glossary; Notes; Bibliography; Inde

Sommario/riassunto

For the past two decades, ‘complexity’ has informed a range of work across the social sciences. There are diverse schools of complexity thinking, and authors have used these ideas in a multiplicity of ways, from health inequalities to the organization of large scale firms. Some understand complexity as emergence from the rule-based interactions of simple agents and explore it through agent-based modelling. Others argue against such ‘restricted complexity’ and for the development of case-based narratives deploying a much wider set of approaches and techniques. Major social theorists have been reinterpreted through a complexity lens and the whole methodological programme of the social sciences has been recast in complexity terms.In four parts, this book



seeks to establish ‘the state of the art’ of complexity-informed social science as it stands now, examining:the key issues in complexity theory the implications of complexity theory for social theory the methodology and methods of complexity theory complexity within disciplines and fields.It also points ways forward towards a complexity-informed social science for the twenty-first century, investigating the argument for a post-disciplinary, ‘open’ social science. Byrne and Callaghan consider how this might be developed as a programme of teaching and research within social science. This book will be particularly relevant for, and interesting to, students and scholars of social research methods, social theory, business and organization studies, health, education, urban studies and development studies.