Question

Income and Poverty

Economists believe people should get paid according to the value of the output they produce. This is fairly easy to determine when you produce something physical, such as cupcakes. However, it becomes very difficult to measure if you are providing a service (perhaps teaching, or you're a doctor treating a medical condition). Regardless of how you measure the value of the output, the more productive you are the more valuable you are in the market to potential employers. This is the reason many economists are against the minimum wage and are for programs that contribute to improving an employee's productivity (such as education and training). There is surprising agreement with just how important education is in minimizing income inequality among economists. Given this information, what would you recommend to policy makers? What do you think about various school districts having vastly different access to resources around the state, or even the country? Recall, spending more money on education does have an opportunity cost - be sure to include that in your answer.

Answer 1