Ads Up?
24 July 2006
Editor, USA Today
Dear Editor:
Endorsing a higher minimum wage, you dismiss concerns that employers adjust to this mandate by hiring fewer low-skilled workers ("Where's Robin Hood when you need him?" July 24). But do you really believe that businesses saddled with government mandates do not respond by adjusting however they can to minimize the impact of these mandates?
Suppose government enacts a statute declaring that newspapers must reduce the prices they charge for ads run in their pages by small businesses. Would the amount of ad space you devote to small-business ads not fall? Asked differently, would the proportion of ad space you make available to big businesses not increase?
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Editor, USA Today
Dear Editor:
Endorsing a higher minimum wage, you dismiss concerns that employers adjust to this mandate by hiring fewer low-skilled workers ("Where's Robin Hood when you need him?" July 24). But do you really believe that businesses saddled with government mandates do not respond by adjusting however they can to minimize the impact of these mandates?
Suppose government enacts a statute declaring that newspapers must reduce the prices they charge for ads run in their pages by small businesses. Would the amount of ad space you devote to small-business ads not fall? Asked differently, would the proportion of ad space you make available to big businesses not increase?
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Thursday April 19, 2007 at 8:21pm