Starting in the 1990s, San Francisco launched a series of bold but relatively unknown public policy experiments to improve wages and benefits for thousands of local workers. Since then, scholars have documented the effects of those policies on compensation, productivity, job creation, and health coverage. Opponents predicted a range of negative impacts, but the evidence tells a decidedly different tale. This book brings together that evidence for the first time, reviews it as a whole, and considers its lessons for local, state, and federal policymakers.
"As this important work shows, a decent society requires standards of minimal decency-and they can be designed in a way that improves rather than distorts markets. Mandatory reading for anyone interested in smart mandates."-Robert B. Reich, Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley.
"At a time when powerful special interests have pushed to roll back workers' rights in statehouses across the country, this book provides another vision for how to build a strong economy-by establishing standards for fair and decent treatment of all workers and enforcing them. It turns out that the high road pays off with greater prosperity and opportunity for all. Whether you're sitting on a city council or negotiating an international trade agreement, this book serves as a policymaker's primer for spurring broad and sustainable economic growth and fostering social justice."-Congressman George Miller
"With tight government budgets at all levels of government, mandates are likely to become increasingly common. When Mandates Work provides a comprehensive, impartial evaluation of a range of San Francisco's groundbreaking mandates, with surprisingly supportive results."-Alan B. Krueger, Bendheim Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Princeton University
"When Mandates Work makes a unique and important contribution and adds a sorely needed perspective to current debates over public policy going on in other states and nationally. The work provides strong empirical evidence that intelligent regulation can improve the functioning of markets as well as improve the lives and living standards of workers-and can do it without reducing employment."-Eileen Appelbaum, Senior Economist, Center for Economic and Policy Research and former Professor at Rutgers University's School of Management and Labor Relations
"The experience of one of this nation's great cities shows us that through smart employment standards-such as higher wages, paid sick days, and health care spending requirements-we can improve the quality of life for low-wage workers while protecting jobs and fostering economic prosperity. This is essential reading for anyone interested in economic fairness and public policy."-Senator Tom Harkin
"When Mandates Work makes important scholarly contributions toward our understanding of mandates for minimum wage and living wage, health care, domestic-partner benefits, and sick leave. The high quality and breadth of the coverage in this book should make it a standard reference for the next one to two decades."-Robert Pollin, Professor of Economics and Co-Director, Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), UMASS-Amherst
"By helping other cities to pass such laws, the authors of When Mandates Work have performed a great public service that should pay dividends to workers across the nation in the years ahead."
