Dieter Helm— The trouble with strong sustainability is that it contains very little by way of guidance as to what we should do, except ‘preserve everything’. It is in essence the claim that natural capital should be regarded as non-substitutable, and hence, following Eric Neumayer, strong sustainability can be called
Continue reading…
Scott Timberg— When you ask people why they steal music, or why they don’t care about the collapse of the record industry, the more informed ones talk about the decadence of the labels themselves. Lowery, who teaches a course on the economics of music at the University of Georgia’s business school,
It is commonly believed that the first corporations were English and Dutch trading corporations from the 1600s. But Germain Sicard, in an overlooked 1952 thesis, argued that the first corporations arose much earlier, in mills from the 1300s in Toulouse, France. His landmark research brings these mills to life and
Joseph William Singer— Should we raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour? Those who say yes seek wages sufficient to sustain workers; those who say no argue that this will increase business costs, leading to layoffs of the very people we are trying to help. Would an increase help
Pierre Birnbaum— On June 21st, 1936, following the June 7th signing of the Matignon Agreements, the Popular Front government voted in the forty-hour workweek. They were led by Léon Blum, who had triumphed in the May 1936 elections. The law was a real revolution, a reconsideration of labor conditions for
James Bessen is an economist and lecturer at Boston University Law School. He is the author of Learning by Doing: The Real Connection between Innovation, Wages, and Wealth. In a recent conversation, we had the chance to talk about the effect technology has on wages and job availability. Yale University Press: In your
Coca-Cola was bottled and sold for the first time on March 12, 1894. Since then, the soft drink company has undergone a striking number of changes and expansions: new flavors, new containers, new markets, and new industries. Despite the company’s varied history, Coke’s newest venture, Fairlife milk, might still surprise
Julius Getman— February 11 is a date with special significance for union leaders, members, and supporters. On that date in 1937, the General Motors Flint facility ended its sit-down strike with a dynamic and long-lasting union victory. General Motors was forced to recognize and bargain with the UAW—something it vowed not
Harry Marks was one of the foremost financial journalists of the late nineteenth century. He was also a man of few scruples, and his salacious love affair with Annie Koppel would be the center of a much talked about trial after he attempted to sue a rival for accusing him of fraud. This three-part series (read
