A minimum wage will tend to increase unemployment among low-skilled, often minority, workers. For many people that is an argument against the minimum wage. But for progressives in the early 20th century that was the argument for the minimum wage—progressives wanted minimum wages to keep women and ethnic minorities out of the workforce.
The same can happen with employment regulation. Rent control slows down new development. Bug or feature? California Republican Tony Strickland argues that reduced development is a factor. New state laws in California prevent cities from restricting development but if rent control were legal cities could be used to do the same thing by simply making it unprofitable to build.
Politico: Strickland said Weinstein’s measure of hiring control [allowing cities to use rent control] would block “the state’s ability to sue our city” because Huntington Beach could ignore higher accessibility requirements for new, multi-unit projects now exempt from rent control. These requirements, he said, could stop development that would “destroy the fabric” of the city’s “Surf City” sound…. “It gives local governments strong protection against federal housing policies and therefore prevents overspending.”
“On paper, it would be legal to build new houses. But it will be breaking the law, especially, to make money by doing that,” he said Louis Mirante…
Hat tip: Ben Krauss at Slow Boring.
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