Results for “those new service sector jobs” 205 found
How do/would unions differ in service industries?
Most unions are found in manufacturing, but the new pro-union arguments emphasize the creation of unions in service industries. I can think of a few differences between manufacturing and services:
1. Labor costs are more important in service industries, so unions have less scope to raise wages. This is Megan McArdle’s argument.
2. There is more long-term fixed capital in manufacturing, and that gives unions greater scope to confiscate those quasi-rents. This is related to #1. (In a service industry, would the transfer be taken away from the return to brand name capital?)
3. On average there is more market power in manufacturing, which again gives unions greater room to raise wages in those sectors. In a perfectly competitive industries, extra wage demands will bankrupt the firm.
4. Many service sector firms face less foreign competition, but I believe they nonetheless face more competition overall. Lower fixed costs mean a more competitive industry, which brings us back to #3.
5. Jobs have shorter duration in service industries, which tightens the link between wages and the current state of the labor market. That also means a smaller role for unions.
6. We have a mental model of service sector companies such as Wal-Mart, which try to get by on the cheap in labor markets. It is harder to make the same claim about General Motors.
The bottom line: Except for #6, most of the effects imply that unions will be less effective in the service sector. You’ll all think of some mechanisms I didn’t, but my tentative conclusion is that unions bring both lower costs and lower benefits in service industries.
I might add I once belonged to a service sector union, in a supermarket as a teen. It was not a pretty picture. I paid high dues and received no apparent benefit, relative to the workers in non-unionized supermarkets. I even heard rumors of corruption.
Thursday assorted links
1. Those new service sector jobs.
2. Optimism is correlated with exceptional longevity.
3. “Kosmos has made 7 discoveries so far, which we are releasing today, in areas ranging from neuroscience to material science and clinical genetics, in collaboration with our academic beta testers. Three of these discoveries reproduced unpublished findings; four are net new, validated contributions to the scientific literature.” Link here.
4. The wisdom of Ross Douthat.
5. “Following large exogenous minimum wage increases, schedule unpredictability increases by 20% per week and schedules become even more responsive to weather shocks. This highlights how some of the welfare gains workers realize from a minimum wage may be offset by increased schedule unpredictability.” Link here to the paper.
6. Kevin Kelly’s essentials for independent travel in China.
7. New colossal statue for Alcatraz island? Recall Alex’s proposal.
8. Ross dialogue on feminization with Leah Libresco Sargent and Helen Andrews (NYT).
Tuesday assorted links
1. Did mass species extinctions peak one hundred years ago?
4. “Delegating to an AI whose alignment is unknown.”
5. Those new service sector jobs: pumpkinstylists (WSJ).
6. South Korean stock market is the best performing this year (FT).
Monday assorted links
1. Some economics of AI subscription pricing.
2. “Cat food made by Michelin star chef is on sale… and people think it’s delicious.”
3. Is video to blame for gender polarization?
4. Those new service sector jobs?
5. “An innovative contest by a city in formerly communist east Germany to curb depopulation by offering a fortnight of free housing has stunned local officials with its success.” Link here.
6. Benjamin Yeoh visits Accra.
7. Banks are making a regulatory pushback against stablecoins (FT).
Wednesday assorted links
Wednesday assorted links
1. Alice Evans chart of the day, recommended.
2. The Shipping Forecast, read by Peter Jefferson. Not recommended.
3. Those new service sector jobs.
4. New book by those who knew Parfit. I did shell out $115 for it.
5. Elad on neglected biomedical areas.
Sunday assorted links
2. A new paper on the diminishing returns to research.
3. Those new service sector jobs: “How to Make $100 an Hour Scratching Someone’s Back.” (WSJ)
4. Shruti podcast with Pravin Krishna on trade.
5. Jennifer Doleac on what we get wrong about crime (NYT).
6. “Eyeballing the results, something like >80 of the top 100 scorers on the Putnam are at MIT“
Monday assorted links
Friday assorted links
2. Why are fewer men going to college?
3. Warren Nutter’s Soviet research for the CIA.
4. Those new service sector jobs: “This Texas Mom Charges Over $1,000 for Her Elaborate Pumpkin Displays.”
5. Pizza Hut Will Deliver Your Resume Printed on a Pizza Box to Prospective Employers (NYC only).
Wednesday assorted links
1. Innovation networks in the Industrial Revolution.
2. Self-treatment of many diseases and maladies is going to accelerate a good deal. Can you guess why?
3. Four percent of humanity subscribes to OnlyFans? Who says Britain is in decline?
4. Those new service sector jobs, Argentina Milei edition.
5. A summary of some John Cochrane. And Cliff Asness profile.
6. Mansour Seck, RIP.
7. Supply is elastic for vaccinations too.
8. Is there too much serial correlation in Fed decisions?
9. Haitian immigrant incarceration rates.
10. James Broughel defends the sovereign wealth fund idea for America.
Saturday assorted links
1. Review of Hannah’s Children.
2. Lookism with Hadza and Tsimane hunters. And lookism for scars and palsies.
3. Those new service sector jobs: banter merchant for a Scottish hotel.
4. Angry birds are fighting drones that patrol for sharks on NYC beaches. It’s the oystercatchers!
5. AI finding copper for itself (NYT).
6. Edward A. Tenenbaum and the Deutschmark: How an American Jew Became the Father of Germany’s Postwar Economic Revival.
7. John van Reenen to lead economic advisory council to boost UK growth.
8. It’s happening.
What are you people thinking?
Today’s suggested packing lists for seven-week camps can include a light blanket and warm comforter, two sets of sheets, six towels, three pairs of sneakers, 25 pairs of underwear, 25 pairs of socks, sports equipment and toiletries. Then, there are clothes for most every weather scenario, including a raincoat and boots, fleece jacket, more than 20 tops and shorts, and 10 pairs of pajamas—split between lightweight and heavy.
Miscellaneous items include foldable Crazy Creek chairs, a kaboodle to hold hair ties, makeup and nail polish, flashlights, decorative pillows for optimal bunk coziness, family photos to fend off homesickness, games and personalized lockboxes for, say, smuggled-in candy.
“Color War” is its own sartorial challenge. At this epic end-of-summer tournament, campers sport their team’s color and compete in events. But since the kids don’t know what color they’ll be assigned, parents often pack for four possibilities.
For the buying, many families make a “camp appointment” with a personal shopper at Denny’s, a children’s boutique in New York, New Jersey and South Florida. Associates greet them with their camp’s packing list printed out. Spencer Klein, whose family has owned Denny’s since 1978, says the average spend for a new camper appointment is $1,500 to $2,000. (A coveted perk: the store labels everything for free.)
As for those new service sector jobs:
This year, for the first time, Dara Grandis, a Manhattan mom of three, hired professional organizer Meryl Bash to pack for her three children, who head off in late June for seven weeks at camp.
Here is the full WSJ article by Tara Weiss, via the excellent Samir Varma.
Sunday assorted links
1. Claims about social resilience (NYT).
2. “Macau is trending toward 0.49 births per woman in 2024.” Bryan Caplan is tagged in the tweet.
3. Those new service sector jobs (the bridge really is scary).
Thursday assorted links
1. “The Spanish judge investigating Russian interference in the Catalonian independence process has extended the probe for another six months after receiving an anonymous letter containing an article that identifies the Russian who offered Catalonian separatists US$500 billion and a small army if they break away from Madrid.” Link here.
2. “We’ve streamlined our recruiting process for new officers. It now takes a quarter of the time it took two years ago to move from application to final offer and security clearance. These improvements have contributed to a surge of interest in the CIA.” Link here.
3. “Interestingly, we also find that same-sex couples default significantly more (53.9%) than similar different-sex couples, which suggests an unobserved characteristic that causes same-sex couples to default more, and could explain a part of observed disparities in mortgage approval, undermining results in previous research.” Link here.
4. Those new service sector jobs: helping people plan their Disney trips.
5. A resource guide to understand the ARPA model, from Institute for Progress.
6. Smoke Sauna Sisterhood is a good Estonian movie, original too.
Wednesday assorted links
1. The Frick Museum will reopen with 14 (!) evening bars.
2. Sebastian Barry in conversation with Roy Foster.
3. On ideological gender disparities in Korea.
4. Those new service sector jobs, What is Intervenor Compensation?, and “robot wranglers” (WSJ).
5. Is Petro stifled in Colombia?
6. Further fresh Vitalik. Includes coverage of his childhood, more personal than about mechanism design.
7. Is there really a “National Hug an Economist Day”?
8. Other than this tweet, I know nothing about the new Catholic Institute of Technology.