News & Commentary

December 18, 2016

Alexander W. Miller

Alexander W. Miller is a student at Harvard Law School.

The New York Times surveys the current state of universal basic income programs, highlighting a Finnish pilot that aims to boost entrepreneurship and encourage work by reducing financial disincentives that accompany unemployment benefit programs.

With the holiday season increasing the volume of online shopping, the Los Angeles Times looks at the pressure delivery drivers at Amazon face to keep up with the added demand.  Drivers have alleged a failure to pay minimum wage and overtime, and that the company has misclassified some as independent contractors despite exercising almost complete control over the drivers.

The Washington Post challenges interpretations of a recent report by the Economic Cycle Research Institute concluding that white workers had disproportionately failed to benefit from recent improvements in the broader economy.  Tracy Jan of Wonkblog instead suggests that changes in the relative size of demographic groups and the age distributions within each may better explain the developments.

The Detroit Free Press reports that confidence among small business owners has been booming since Donald Trump’s election last month.  As compared to before the election, 44% more of those surveyed believe that business conditions will be better in six months than worse.

 

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