Other Writings

• “How to Save the Middle Class” — Op-ed in The Boston Globe, May 14, 2026. New!

• “The Affordability Crisis Is a Wage Crisis” — Essay in Washington Monthly, April 28, 2026. New!

• “Oklahoma voters consider raising minimum wage to $15” — Op-ed in The Journal Record, April 28, 2026. New!

• “America’s Cost-of-Living Crisis Is Really a Pay Crisis” — Essay in TIME, April 10, 2026. New!

• “These Republican-leaning States Went Big on Minimum Wages. Here’s What Happened to their Restaurant and Retail Jobs.” — Substack post, April 8, 2026. New!

• “A Plan to Reform the Unemployment Insurance System in the United States” — Hamilton Project Policy Proposal, April 2021.

• “Impacts of Minimum Wages: Review of International Evidence” — Report prepared for Her Majesty’s Treasury (UK), 2019.

• “Making a Case for a Higher Minimum Wage” — Essay in The Milken Review, 2019.

• “The impact of unemployment insurance expansion on aggregate employment during the Great Recession” with Christopher Boone, Lucas Goodman, and Ethan Kaplan — Column in VoxEU, January 8, 2017.

• “Minimum Wages and the Distribution of Family Incomes in the United States” — Washington Center for Equitable Growth Research Brief, 2017.

• “The Tighter Job Market, Along With Minimum Wage Rises, Pushed Wages Up” — Op-ed in The New York Times (Room for Debate Series), September 29, 2016.

• “CITY LIMITS: US City Minimum Wages and Their Relevance for the UK” — Resolution Foundation Essay, March 2015.

• “Designing Thoughtful Minimum Wage Policy at the State and Local Levels” — Hamilton Project Report, June 2014.

• “Finally a Chance for Facts to Decide” — Op-ed in The New York Times (Room for Debate Series), June 4, 2014.

• “The Minimum We Can Do” — Op-ed in The New York Times (Great Divide Series), November 30, 2013.

• “Testimony on Minimum Wages for the Senate HELP Committee” — U.S. Senate HELP Committee, March 14, 2013.

• “Occupy Wall Street and the Political Economy of Inequality” with Ethan Kaplan — Economists’ Voice, March 2012.

• “A Public Option That Works” with William H. Dow and Carrie Hoverman Colla — Op-ed in The New York Times, August 21, 2009.

• “Wal-Mart and Job Quality – What Do We Know, and Should We Care?” with Steve Wertheim — UC Berkeley Labor Center, October 2005.

• “Kids at Risk: Declining Employer-Based Health Coverage in California and the United States: A Crisis for Working Families” with Ken Jacobs, Sarah Muller, Bob Brownstein, and Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins — UC Berkeley Labor Center, August 2005.

• “Falling Apart: How Adults are Faring in the Crisis of Job-Based Health Insurance in California and the United States” with Ken Jacobs, Sarah Muller, Bob Brownstein, and Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins — UC Berkeley Labor Center, June 2005.

• “Hidden Cost of Wal-Mart Jobs” with Ken Jacobs — UC Berkeley Labor Center, August 2004.

• “Research Brief: Productivity Impact of Health Care Reform in California” — UC Berkeley Labor Center, 2003.

• “2003 California Establishment Survey: Preliminary Results on Employer-Based Healthcare Reform” with Michael Reich — UC Berkeley Institute of Industrial Relations, 2003.

• “Paid Family Leave in California: An Analysis of Costs and Benefits” with Ethan D. Kaplan — Labor Project for Working Families, 2002.