Academic

MICKEY KAUS: Why is Texas doing so much better than California? ?Dan Gross outlines some reasons: ?

By Glenn Reynolds

MICKEY KAUS: Why is Texas doing so much better than California? “Dan Gross outlines some reasons: the energy industry is relatively recession proof, plus Texas is so big it can create its own ‘green’ wind power jobs to power its cities without having to cooperate with neighboring states. … Gross leaves off another potential factor, though: Texas has a relatively low rate of unionization–about a third of California’s. That means a) fewer rigidities in the labor market, allowing it to adjust to the market more quickly–tiny quick wage cuts for a lot of people, for eample, mean employers don’t have to lay people off as quickly b) fewer rigidities in organization structure–they don’t have UAW-style work rules at Dell; and c) the absence of the public sector union ‘death-grip on state and local government’ and politics and finances, which has helped produce near-bankruptcy at the state level (and actual bankruptcy in Vallejo).”

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on April 22, 2010 (boomark / email).