Hoover Institution fellow Tim Kane discusses the news that the number of US households living in poverty is down.

With the minimum wage set to increase beginning next week in the state of Connecticut, we are once again reminded that our political leaders believe themselves to be more competent than the free market and the individual actors who operate within it. Though the narrative is routinely given precedence, here is the fact of the matter: Wage floors only help the politicians who promise them.

Dani Rodrik of Harvard University talks about neoliberalism with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Rodrik argues that a dogmatic embrace of markets has increased inequality and limited who benefits from economic growth. He argues for a more interventionist approach to the economy with the goal of better-paying jobs and more widely shared prosperity.

Last week, the California Senate passed a new bill that will cause somewhere between one million to two million workers, perhaps even more, to lose their status as independent contractors. If California governor Gavin Newsom signs the bill, an independent contractor will have to satisfy the following legally binding criteria:

1. Be free from the “control and direction” of their employer
2. Be performing work that is “outside the course” of the company’s usual business
3. Have their own independently established trade, occupation, or business