Not a valid comparison. Single case design studies are like group experimental designs turned on their head - instead of one observation from many cases, single case design studies use many observations over time on a single case.
Moreover the USSR was so fundimentally different than what currently is under discussion that its not a valid comparison. Lets try a better one. The US Census maintains ongoing economic census results broken down by location (for instance http://www.census.gov/prod/www/statistical-abstract-04.html or http://www.census.gov/econ/census02/guide/g02dvd.htm). It shouldn't be too difficult to extract the data, using the Census Bureau's tools to extract the necessary data and do the analysis using SPSS or similar program, comparing those areas with a living wage law and those statistically equivalent locations that do not . The most recent set for distribution is the 2002 economic census. The first DVD is currently available for $300, however the same data is also available online from the census - just harder to obtain. In other words I'm suggesting that the needed analysis is very similar to Robert Pollin's analysis, just done on a multi state/multi region basis over a 5 to 8 year period centering around the implementation of the living wage law. That should give enough data for both a baseline and intervention period, and a comparison to those places that do not have such a law. larry On 10/3/05, Gruss Gott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Larry wrote: > > Single cases don't make a trend. > > Let's try this case: USSR. > > If you pay someone more than they're worth, but enough to keep them > from making a change, the majority won't change. That's basic human > nature, and the point has been solved decades ago. It goes like this: > > (A.) One the one hand there's the viewpoint that if the gov't doles > out money based on "morality" rather than market forces then society, > on the whole, will be better off. Unfortunately they discovered that > gov't is made up of people who can't shake the profit motive so > corruption becomes rampant and the whole thing implodes. > > (b.) Then there's the capitalist side which says that all humans are > driven by a profit motive (it's right after basic food and shelter, > but before security and s3x). However most people, beyond a certain > point of wealth become benevolent. That is, capitalism relies on > using a fundamentally destructive quality of human nature, greed, and > turns into a wealth building enterprise. > > So, this debate has already been solved: earning is better that taking > what's not earned. > > What you're questioning is the disparities in wealth that can occur, > specifically among the poor. This is due to a few causes: > > 1.) Physically/mentally unable to compete. > 2.) Lack of knowledge on how to compete (how to analyze market forces, > education, etc). > 3.) Lack of resources to compete (rural, Internet, cell phones, time, > materials, etc). > 4.) Lack of will to compete. > > Point #1 cannot be solved and society must bear those costs. Points > 2, 3, and 4 can all be solved with the right policy however, as is > implicit, minimum wage does nothing to solve any of them. As I've > been saying, MW only masks the symptoms of points 2-4; it's does > nothing to solve them. > > Therefore what's needed is some clever policy to actually SOLVE the > problem rather than treat the symptoms. I've previously detailed some > ideas. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:175704 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
