Economists Against Freedom

I know it sounds like a tired conservative sound-bite – a simplistic cliché at best, manipulative hatemongering at worst. And no, it’s not exactly what you expect from that wing, but this petition from Economic Policy Institute seriously baffled me. Mainly because it includes first and foremost some of the heaviest players in modern economics (such as Kenneth Arrow or Robert Solow), second at least one person you normally don’t associate with anti-market views (or pro-union views, in this case) – Jagdish Bhagwati. It is a response to the relative depression of “workers” wages in the last decades, supporting the so-called “Employee Free Choice Act”. I have written about this earlier. From the petition:

The Employee Free Choice Act will better reflect worker desires than the current “war over representation.” The Act will also
lower the level of acrimony and distrust that often accompanies union elections in our current system.

A rising tide lifts all boats only when labor and management bargain on relatively equal terms. In recent decades, most
bargaining power has resided with management. The current recession will further weaken the ability of workers to bargain
individually. More than ever, workers will need to act together.

The Employee Free Choice Act is not a panacea, but it would restore some balance to our labor markets. As economists,
we believe this is a critically important step in rebuilding our economy and strengthening our democracy by enhancing the voice of
working people in the workplace.

It’s a mystery to me how well-educated economists can support something like this. For starters, I never understood howcome a monopoly in the labor-market could be desirable, when monopoly is more or less unanimously opposed by economists in virtually every other domain of the economy. Second, I don’t understand how they can dismiss the obvious political ramifications this act has for individual freedom, and how it empowers the most ruthless thugs of the labor markets to stifle opposition to their agenda.

I don’t think their petition will matter a lot though, but this bill will likely be passed sooner or later, now that the Democrats are in charge of congress (and the presidency).