Regulation
It’s definitely a positive development to see the Providence Business News editorialize for caution with additional minimum wage hikes, but if I’m being honest, it feels sort of like the editors felt obligated to say something: Businesses have persistently warned that the state has been moving too fast to boost wages, leading many to raise prices and…
According to Rosegalie Cineus of the Cranston Herald, the City Council is cracking down on businesses that aren’t completing the licensure process: In a push for stricter enforcement, the committee on Monday voted unanimously to send notices of default to more than 20 businesses that did not show up for their show-cause hearings. “They are thumbing their…
I realize poetical references can be overstated and seem like an attempt to create high drama from mundane circumstances (or win the argument by esoteric reference), but reading Sandy Hall’s article on NRI NOW about a business owner who claims he’ll have to leave Glocester if he can’t continue crushing and processing stone, the famous line from…
Thinking further about concepts like rent control, it occurred to me people might not be able to visualize the practical effects of regulation. Behavior, like prices, has more (and more subtle) sources than we can possibly calculate. These sources come together like flows of water into a downward-sloping pipe, building up the pressure. Like water…
As government sinks its tendrils more and more deeply into healthcare, residents may find it difficult to stop themselves from pulling out their hair. Even government agents with academic economic knowledge, like Rhode Island’s Health Insurance Commissioner, Cory King, who studied economics along with political economy and public policy on his way to a Master’s…
The organization Top Work Places has placed at least two articles marked as paid advertisements in the Providence Journal, and one about igus Inc. in Rumford is worth noting: At igus Inc.’s U.S. headquarters in Rumford, Rhode Island, customers and employees are at the center of everything they do — a commitment that has earned…
Sure, this sounds bad, but none of the coverage I’ve seen has asked a key question: The Rhode Island Office of the Auditor General has identified significant noncompliance with each of the 50 child care facilities it recently reviewed. The office randomly selected 25 home and 25 professional setting facilities and found at least one…
Christopher Shea of the Rhode Island Current reports in Providence Business News on one of those legal stories that might seem obvious to people who think our country is governed by a straightforward hierarchy of governments. Apparently, the State of Rhode Island has given itself authority to regulate businesses across the border. Specifically, the state apparently claims, according…
This news, as reported by Greta Shuster in the Cranston Herald, is great, but it’s only an inkling of the start of what our educational system (broadly defined) needs: The Community College of Rhode Island received a $1-million Gable Grant from the Lowe’s Foundation last week to improve its building-trades program offerings and increase enrollment…
As of July 1st, Rhode Islanders who rent out housing, whether they live on the premises or not, now face a $50 per unit per month fine (“at least,” according to the statute) if they don’t register their units on a searchable state database and another $125 per unit per month (again, “at least”) for…
