Minimum wage v. Earned Income Tax Credit

This piece says that the EITC wins (Bloomberg, Oct. 2020).

Studying Economics Increases Wages a Lot

Your major matters (MarginalRevolution Oct 2020).

"Students who majored in economics earned median wages at the age of forty of $90,000 in 2018. Students who majored in other social sciences earned only $65,000. Why the big difference? Selection or a causal effect of earnings? Zachary Bleemer and Aashish Mehta compare students at UCSD who just missed the grade cutoff to be able to major in economics with those who just made the grade. Making the grade causes a big increase in students choosing to major in economics and a big increase in their salaries by their mid-20s of about $22,000. Thus most or all of the observed differences in salaries by major appear to be causal. The increase in salary appears to be driven by a change in preferences that leads students with economics majors to specialize in high-wage industries."

What is the best way to help the working poor?

Steven Landsburg says the earned income tax credit is a better way to help the working poor than the minimum wage (WSJ, Oct. 2020). He also hints that guaranteed minimum income is the better way to help the poor whether they worked or not. Finally, he proposes two reasons that supporting an increase in the minimum wage is good politics for Joe Biden.

Rule of Law?

Should I have the same rights to medical treatment as a President (MRU, Oct. 2020).

What is the best way to reduce carbon emissions?

CA has outlawed gasoline powered cars and truck effective 2025 (WSJ, Sept. 2020). The purported goal is to reduce carbon emissions. Five questions come to mind.

1. What is the best way to reduce carbon emissions?
1. Banning gasoline powered cars and trucks.
2. Subsidizing green vehicles.
3. Imposing a carbon tax. The revenues could flow to the general budget, be earmarked for green initiatives, or be refunded to taxpayers on a per capita basis as a carbon dividend. 
2. Which of the three options would have a bigger impact on carbon emissions?
3. How much will banning gasoline powered cars and trucks in CA, or even in the USA, affect climate change?
4. Who loses if drivers pay a tax sufficient to compensate people for the externality they create when they burn gasoline?
5. Who loses if a law forbids drivers from purchasing a gasoline-powered car and the drivers are willing to pay a tax sufficient to compensate people for the externality they create when they burn gasoline?

Bad consequences of the knowledge problems when government tries to control an economy

"A report found 13% of children under 5 are stunted; oil-rich nation is ‘on the edge of an irreversible catastrophe’" (WSJ Oct 2020).

Who benefits from the bar exam?

This article asks whether the benefit of requiring lawyers to pass a State bar examination exceeds the cost (Planet Money, Sept. 2020). Here are some money quotes.

1. "... Gillian Hadfield, a law professor and economist at the University of Toronto, argues there's no evidence that the bar actually protects the public."
2. "'My estimate is well over 80% of Americans who need legal help can't get it because it's too expensive,' Hadfield says. 'And the main reason for that is a crazy regulatory system. The bar exam is part of that.'"
3. "It's kinda like cafe baristas getting control of the coffee market by using the regulatory system to prevent restaurants, Keurig machines and gas stations from providing you coffee."