CVS's acquisition of Target's retail pharmacy business reduced pay, especially for low-wage workers. Just Accepted new paper by Enas Farag, Alaa Abdelfattah, Chris Compton, Anna Stansbury @annastansbury.bsky.social and Marshall Steinbaum @econmarshall.bsky.social zurl.co/NvgSz

A Retrospective Analysis of the Acquisition of Target’s Pharmacy Business by CVS Health: Labor Market Perspective

Abstract. We analyze the labor market impact of CVS Health’s acquisition of Target’s pharmacy business in December 2015 using Lightcast job postings data.

zurl.co

Mega-🧵 : Never before analyzed FTC data on franchising shows that * Brands are increasingly squeezing and exploiting franchise operators by - Increasing control over franchise operators - intensifying competition among franchises - increasing the cost of exit through non-competes.

Marshall Steinbaum@econmarshall.bsky.social · 4mo ago

🚨🚨Revised paper 🚨🚨 The Balance of Power in Franchising w/@ulrichatz.org, Blake Eliason, @mikelipsitz.bsky.social, @pnorlander.bsky.social, & @stpinto.bsky.social. We built the 1st comprehensive panel dataset of franchise contract terms: 46,000 documents, 4,500 chains, 20+ provisions, 2009-2024. /1

One takeaway from the paper is that disclosure is necessary but not sufficient: Franchise Disclosure Documents make these restraints visible, but they do not undo switching costs,hold-up, or post-term noncompetes. The FTC's Franchise Rule emphasizes disclosure over substantive regulation.

Marshall Steinbaum@econmarshall.bsky.social · 4mo ago

🚨🚨Revised paper 🚨🚨 The Balance of Power in Franchising w/@ulrichatz.org, Blake Eliason, @mikelipsitz.bsky.social, @pnorlander.bsky.social, & @stpinto.bsky.social. We built the 1st comprehensive panel dataset of franchise contract terms: 46,000 documents, 4,500 chains, 20+ provisions, 2009-2024. /1

🚨🚨Revised paper 🚨🚨 The Balance of Power in Franchising w/@ulrichatz.org, Blake Eliason, @mikelipsitz.bsky.social, @pnorlander.bsky.social, & @stpinto.bsky.social. We built the 1st comprehensive panel dataset of franchise contract terms: 46,000 documents, 4,500 chains, 20+ provisions, 2009-2024. /1

READ THIS

Michael Edison Hayden@michaelehayden.bsky.social · 4mo ago

New: I wrote about how the SPLC let union breaking and fear of MAGA drive it away from its own civil rights principles. After I spoke up about Gaza, the SPLC disciplined me and terminated my employment—leading to a discrimination settlement: substack.com/home/post/p-...

Important findings! Understanding franchising in detail is crucial for understanding many parts of the low wage labor market, and this team keeps producing papers that hugely advance our knowledge

Marshall Steinbaum@econmarshall.bsky.social · 4mo ago

NEW WORKING PAPER Minimum Wages and Vertical Restraints in Franchising joint with Swayam Sarangi, @stpinto.bsky.social, and Blake Eliason. marshallsteinbaum.org/wp-content/u... #EconSky /1

NEW WORKING PAPER Minimum Wages and Vertical Restraints in Franchising joint with Swayam Sarangi, @stpinto.bsky.social, and Blake Eliason. marshallsteinbaum.org/wp-content/u... #EconSky /1

regulations.utah.edu/academics/6-...

"Democrats are no longer framing their tax increases on the wealthy solely as measures to fund programs. They are arguing that America’s super-wealthy simply have too much money and taking some of that away is a public good on its own." newrepublic.com/article/2078...

Finally, Democrats—of All Stripes—Are Coming After the Wealthy’s Money

Everywhere you look, Democrats are trying to raise taxes on the superrich. It’s the right economic policy—but more than that, it’s the right democracy policy.

newrepublic.com

“Progressive taxation is the single most important policy lever for reducing the power of the rich—not because it raises revenue that can be redistributed via public programs or directly to the poor, but because it imposes a de facto statutory maximum on income or wealth.” @econmarshall.bsky.social

Perry Bacon@perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 5mo ago

"Democrats are no longer framing their tax increases on the wealthy solely as measures to fund programs. They are arguing that America’s super-wealthy simply have too much money and taking some of that away is a public good on its own." newrepublic.com/article/2078...

Just witnessed something good happen in Utah state politics. Bill that would restrict non-compete agreements just passed out of committee with a 10-3 vote le.utah.gov/~2026/bills/...

Elena Patel of @brookings.edu Rural counties with closer access to post offices consistently have higher levels of small-business activity, with the strongest relationships concentrated in sectors that account for a large share of rural self-employment. www.brookings.edu/articles/the...

The postal network as economic infrastructure: Evidence from rural small businesses | Brookings

Elena Patel explains research highlighting the importance of the U.S. postal service in small business activity in rural communities.

brookings.edu

I am just gonna say it, these guys are completely emasculated by the knowledge that they have been out-organized by a group that is significantly made up of women, and all the bullshit call of duty nonsense is cope for their wounded egos bsky.app/profile/jeet...

Jeet Heer@jeetheer.bsky.social · 6mo ago

MAGA military geniuses are talking about Minnesota protestors like they are the Iraqi insurgency, the Taliban, and the Viet Cong all rolled into one.

Argula von Grumbach admonishing the professoriate of Ingolstadt for expelling a Lutheran student. (From Lyndal Roper’s Summer of Fire and Blood)

Argula von Grumbach admonishing the professoriate of Ingolstadt for expelling a Lutheran student. (From Lyndal Roper’s Summer of Fire and Blood)

One thing that happens to you if you research controversial topics is that referees feel free to completely shirk their duty to read & understand your paper in peer review, instead resorting to groundless insults and rank unprofessionalism. #EconSky

New article alert 🚨: “An Antitrust Exemption for Collective Bargaining by Independent Contractors,” by Vincent Mancini, @econmarshall.bsky.social, and Robert Stutchbury.

"The public wants access to a high-quality, reasonably-priced higher education, and we have to give it to them," says @econmarshall.bsky.social. newrepublic.com/article/2054...

"The elite critique of higher education is you have a bunch of overpaid, over-confident professors who aren't doing anything that's really worthwhile for the public. What I think is wrong with the higher education system is plutocracy," says @econmarshall.bsky.social. newrepublic.com/article/2054...

Last week I discussed my paper "Rebuilding American Higher Education: from an Engine of Inequality to a Pillar of the Public Interest" (coauthored @andrewelrod.bsky.social @higheredlabor.bsky.social) w/@perrybaconjr.bsky.social at @newrepublic.com newrepublic.com/article/2054... /1

Trump Is Destroying Higher Ed. Here’s How Democrats Can Rebuild It

University of Utah professor Marshall Steinbaum says American higher education should be reformed so we don’t have well-funded colleges for rich students and underfunded ones that lower-income people ...

newrepublic.com

Interesting. I’m always skeptical of new antitrust exemptions and have frequently suggested getting rid of many of them (especially ones related to insurance). That said, this proposal and the one related to musicians vs. streaming services solve real problems.

Marshall Steinbaum@econmarshall.bsky.social · 7mo ago

I am pleased to present a NEW PAPER we’ve been working on for awhile: “An Antitrust Exemption for Collective Bargaining by Independent Contractors” coauthored w/Vince Mancini & Bob Stutchbury. Forthcoming from Antitrust Law Journal. Link to the paper: marshallsteinbaum.org/wp-content/u... /1

I am pleased to present a NEW PAPER we’ve been working on for awhile: “An Antitrust Exemption for Collective Bargaining by Independent Contractors” coauthored w/Vince Mancini & Bob Stutchbury. Forthcoming from Antitrust Law Journal. Link to the paper: marshallsteinbaum.org/wp-content/u... /1

@econmarshall.bsky.social this is very good!!! thx for writing it marshallsteinbaum.org/wp-content/u...

Tooze isn’t perfect but he is still one of the best academics we have today www.theguardian.com/business/202...

The CDC is still paying reparations for Tuskegee while doing it again.

Daryl Surat@darylsurat.bsky.social · 7mo ago

RFK Jr is doing a modern-day Tuskegee study, where by he uses taxpayer money to intentionality infect African children with Hepatitis B and deny them treatment. You know, just to see what happens newrepublic.com/post/205330/...

This is indeed the basis of popular revolution: elite institutions with a lot to lose comply, but those with less are willing to put up a fight, which means when the regime loses credibility they’re the ones with any popular legitimacy.

Will Stancil@whstancil.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Also, when you defy Trump, you’re kind of implicitly making fools of the elite law firms and universities and media companies and billionaires and Congress, which is fun.

They expect - they NEED - the people they threaten to fall in line, like the law firms and universities and media companies and billionaires and Congress did. If you say “No, make me,” they simply do not have a Plan B. TRUMP DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH GUYS TO MAKE YOU.

I lost my job at a progressive think tank partly over this, because it was seen as destructive to a big tent anti-trump coalition. The problem is, any coalition with libertarians is going to be incapable of defeating trump, as we’ve since learned. www.rawstory.com/amp/libertar...

Libertarianism is a form of white supremacy: economist

rawstory.com

Left Coast Reads 📚🌹@leftcoastreads.bsky.social · 7mo ago

@econmarshall.bsky.social and Brad DeLong took a lot of flak for saying that libertarianism was basically just white supremacy. And these ICE agents out here making the case for them.

Think about the mindset, and the expectation of immunity, of someone who texts this to friends.

While procuring big raises for themselves, these presidents were dismantling entire departments, firing faculty en masse, and signing expensive contracts with the epistemicide company in defiance of shared governance. Abject betrayal of the university mission. www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...

May-lee Chai (she/her)@mayleechai.bsky.social · 8mo ago

How 13 CSU presidents got up-to-20 percent raises despite huge budget cuts and layoffs: www.calfac.org/how-csu-trus...