When the award-winning Springfield café Screamin’ Beans announced its closure, Gene Tunny saw it as a symptom of a bigger problem: wage and regulatory costs rising faster than many small businesses can absorb. In this episode, Gene looks at a landmark Australian Fair Work Commission decision that could reshape pay for gig economy delivery drivers, and shares a conversation with John Humphreys of the Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance on why the net benefit of a minimum wage rise to a worker is often very different from the gross headline number. Drawing on Thomas Sowell's concept of the "zero-sum fallacy" and a recent dispute at BHP's Port Hedland, Gene makes the case for weighing the trade-offs of labour market regulation rather than assuming good intentions guarantee good outcomes.
When the award-winning Springfield café Screamin’ Beans announced its closure, Gene Tunny saw it as a symptom of a bigger problem: wage and regulatory costs rising faster than many small businesses can absorb. In this episode, Gene looks at a landmark Australian Fair Work Commission decision that could reshape pay for gig economy delivery drivers, and shares a conversation with John Humphreys of the Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance on why the net benefit of a minimum wage rise to a worker is often very different from the gross headline number. Drawing on Thomas Sowell's concept of the "zero-sum fallacy" and a recent dispute at BHP's Port Hedland, Gene makes the case for weighing the trade-offs of labour market regulation rather than assuming good intentions guarantee good outcomes.
Gene would love to hear your thoughts on this episode. You can email him via contact@economicsexplored.com.
Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance livestream, Thursday 9 July, “Greens set to keep balance of power || #49”:
https://www.youtube.com/live/_snxV9CzvRk?si=DXVtaaXhu3cqL8O7
Gene Tunny's CIS paper: Closing Opportunities, Not Closing Loopholes:
https://www.cis.org.au/publication/closing-opportunities-not-loopholes/
Thomas Sowell’s Economic Facts and Fallacies:
CIS’s Michael Stutchbury: “We’re punching ourselves in the face”:
https://www.cis.org.au/commentary/opinion/were-punching-ourselves-in-the-face/
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