In the new issue of Cato Journal, I have an article on so-called prevailing wage laws. The feds have the Davis-Bacon Act and 31 states have enacted similar laws. They require that on construction projects funded in whole or part by government money, workers’ pay will be set by government rather than determined by competitive bidding. North Carolina is one of only nine states that never went for this bit of anti-competitive nonsense.
Prevailing wage laws are just a way for construction unions to stifle competition by the use of government power. They drive up costs without any compensating benefits — a price-fixing conspiracy hiding by a mask of claimed but non-existent public benefits.
