Licensing for many professions squeezes the supply of services, artificially inflating prices and creating wage premiums. One study from the Institute for Justice put the wage premium relative to an environment without any occupational licensing at a whopping 22 percent in Massachusetts.
While many may only remember the 1994 referendum and the laws that gave rise to it, rent control policies – and opposition to them – stretch back more than a century in Massachusetts. The laws themselves varied widely from era to era, but the reasons for them – housing shortages and a lack of affordability – have been consistent. State and local lawmakers have each seen rent control as a way for the government to mandate affordability in the housing market. Yet, as tempting as price controls have been, every policy of its kind has eventually gone out of favor. Often the result of those policies’ negative externalities, like housing disrepair; reductions in supply; gentrification; and the misallocation of rental […]
An increase in corporate ownership of housing has some experts worried about potential consequences of such a shift. One study found a link between LLC ownership and housing stock that is in disrepair, with more rapid deterioration than would be expected if ownership had not changed.
Immigrants account for 17% of Massachusetts residents but start a quarter of the Commonwealth’s new businesses. These entrepreneurs could create even more jobs that further lift wages and standard of living if not for the unnecessary obstacle of restrictive state and local occupational licensing laws.
There is a housing crisis in the Bay State, a fact unlikely to surprise many of the state’s residents. Massachusetts consistently ranks as one of the most expensive places to live in the entire country, right up there with infamously unaffordable places such as New York and California. The state ranks poorly on several measures of comparative costs, including utilities, groceries, transportation, and healthcare. But the cost that takes up the highest percentage of residents’ income is housing. Rents and the cost of the average home have skyrocketed in the wake of the pandemic, hardly cooling as mortgage rates have risen. According to Census Bureau survey data, the median rent paid by Massachusetts renters in 2020 was $1336, nearly $500 […]
Labor shortages are front and center once again this holiday season as Bay Staters make their way to retail stores for gift shopping. Help wanted signs line store windows, the occasional store is closed during hours when it would otherwise be open, and lines and waits seem longer as shorthanded staff try to accommodate the number of shoppers. This has become a common story since the onset of the pandemic and it persists even now, long after virtually all COVID restrictions have ended. According to the most recent data from the Federal Reserve, over 10.3 million jobs remain unfilled in the U.S. That’s down from the record high of 11.9 million in March of this year but five times what […]
Immigrants have started a quarter of all businesses in Massachusetts despite making up just 17 percent of the state workforce, and those establishments appear to be more innovative than those founded by native-born Americans. Despite these contributions, shrinking federal visa caps and red tape are among the factors making it more difficult for immigrants to come to the U.S.