Mega-🧵 : Never before analyzed FTC data on franchising shows that * Brands are increasingly squeezing and exploiting franchise operators by - Increasing control over franchise operators - intensifying competition among franchises - increasing the cost of exit through non-competes.

One takeaway from the paper is that disclosure is necessary but not sufficient: Franchise Disclosure Documents make these restraints visible, but they do not undo switching costs,hold-up, or post-term noncompetes. The FTC's Franchise Rule emphasizes disclosure over substantive regulation.

🚨🚨Revised paper 🚨🚨 The Balance of Power in Franchising w/@ulrichatz.org, Blake Eliason, @mikelipsitz.bsky.social, @pnorlander.bsky.social, & @stpinto.bsky.social. We built the 1st comprehensive panel dataset of franchise contract terms: 46,000 documents, 4,500 chains, 20+ provisions, 2009-2024. /1

READ THIS

Important findings! Understanding franchising in detail is crucial for understanding many parts of the low wage labor market, and this team keeps producing papers that hugely advance our knowledge

NEW WORKING PAPER Minimum Wages and Vertical Restraints in Franchising joint with Swayam Sarangi, @stpinto.bsky.social, and Blake Eliason. marshallsteinbaum.org/wp-content/u... #EconSky /1

"Democrats are no longer framing their tax increases on the wealthy solely as measures to fund programs. They are arguing that America’s super-wealthy simply have too much money and taking some of that away is a public good on its own." newrepublic.com/article/2078...

“Progressive taxation is the single most important policy lever for reducing the power of the rich—not because it raises revenue that can be redistributed via public programs or directly to the poor, but because it imposes a de facto statutory maximum on income or wealth.” @econmarshall.bsky.social

Just witnessed something good happen in Utah state politics. Bill that would restrict non-compete agreements just passed out of committee with a 10-3 vote le.utah.gov/~2026/bills/...

Elena Patel of @brookings.edu Rural counties with closer access to post offices consistently have higher levels of small-business activity, with the strongest relationships concentrated in sectors that account for a large share of rural self-employment. www.brookings.edu/articles/the...

I am just gonna say it, these guys are completely emasculated by the knowledge that they have been out-organized by a group that is significantly made up of women, and all the bullshit call of duty nonsense is cope for their wounded egos bsky.app/profile/jeet...

Argula von Grumbach admonishing the professoriate of Ingolstadt for expelling a Lutheran student. (From Lyndal Roper’s Summer of Fire and Blood)

Argula von Grumbach admonishing the professoriate of Ingolstadt for expelling a Lutheran student. (From Lyndal Roper’s Summer of Fire and Blood)

One thing that happens to you if you research controversial topics is that referees feel free to completely shirk their duty to read & understand your paper in peer review, instead resorting to groundless insults and rank unprofessionalism. #EconSky

New article alert 🚨: “An Antitrust Exemption for Collective Bargaining by Independent Contractors,” by Vincent Mancini, @econmarshall.bsky.social, and Robert Stutchbury.

"The public wants access to a high-quality, reasonably-priced higher education, and we have to give it to them," says @econmarshall.bsky.social. newrepublic.com/article/2054...

"The elite critique of higher education is you have a bunch of overpaid, over-confident professors who aren't doing anything that's really worthwhile for the public. What I think is wrong with the higher education system is plutocracy," says @econmarshall.bsky.social. newrepublic.com/article/2054...

Last week I discussed my paper "Rebuilding American Higher Education: from an Engine of Inequality to a Pillar of the Public Interest" (coauthored @andrewelrod.bsky.social @higheredlabor.bsky.social) w/@perrybaconjr.bsky.social at @newrepublic.com newrepublic.com/article/2054... /1

Interesting. I’m always skeptical of new antitrust exemptions and have frequently suggested getting rid of many of them (especially ones related to insurance). That said, this proposal and the one related to musicians vs. streaming services solve real problems.

I am pleased to present a NEW PAPER we’ve been working on for awhile: “An Antitrust Exemption for Collective Bargaining by Independent Contractors” coauthored w/Vince Mancini & Bob Stutchbury. Forthcoming from Antitrust Law Journal. Link to the paper: marshallsteinbaum.org/wp-content/u... /1

@econmarshall.bsky.social this is very good!!! thx for writing it marshallsteinbaum.org/wp-content/u...

Tooze isn’t perfect but he is still one of the best academics we have today www.theguardian.com/business/202...

The CDC is still paying reparations for Tuskegee while doing it again.

This is indeed the basis of popular revolution: elite institutions with a lot to lose comply, but those with less are willing to put up a fight, which means when the regime loses credibility they’re the ones with any popular legitimacy.

They expect - they NEED - the people they threaten to fall in line, like the law firms and universities and media companies and billionaires and Congress did. If you say “No, make me,” they simply do not have a Plan B. TRUMP DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH GUYS TO MAKE YOU.

I lost my job at a progressive think tank partly over this, because it was seen as destructive to a big tent anti-trump coalition. The problem is, any coalition with libertarians is going to be incapable of defeating trump, as we’ve since learned. www.rawstory.com/amp/libertar...

Think about the mindset, and the expectation of immunity, of someone who texts this to friends.

While procuring big raises for themselves, these presidents were dismantling entire departments, firing faculty en masse, and signing expensive contracts with the epistemicide company in defiance of shared governance. Abject betrayal of the university mission. www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...

Perry Bacon is one of ~15 influential commentators I follow because I consistently find his perspective oriented toward organizing. Just finished this @higheredlabor.bsky.social report and agree: this report puts forth an assessment and vision for higher ed around which to construct a new majority.

This proposal from @econmarshall.bsky.social, @higheredlabor.bsky.social and others to overhaul higher education is really compelling. Worth reading in full. marshallsteinbaum.org/wp-content/u...

In a new paper, @andrewelrod.bsky.social and @econmarshall.bsky.social explain how to transform American higher education from an engine of Inequality to a pillar of the public interest.

This Wednesday: Join us in NYC for a panel discussion on how to rebuild American higher education from an engine of inequality to a pillar of the public interest. Featuring @jmargetta.bsky.social, @econmarshall.bsky.social, Jennifer Chernega & @adamhsays.com. 🎟️ www.eventbrite.com/e/why-americ...

Reminder: this Wednesday Dec. 3rd we (Higher Ed Labor United/JFI/TCF) are hosting a panel discussion about the future of higher education in NYC, where I’m releasing a new paper. Register here: jainfamilyinstitute.org/event-on-dec...

How does human capital theory survive the existence of this paper?

On Dec. 3rd, I will be releasing a @higheredlabor.bsky.social/Jain Family Institute paper co-written w/Andrew Elrod: Rebuilding American Higher Education: from an Engine of Inequality to a Pillar of the Public Interest In-person panel discussion in NYC: jainfamilyinstitute.org/event-on-dec...

On Dec. 3rd, I will be releasing a @higheredlabor.bsky.social/Jain Family Institute paper co-written w/Andrew Elrod: Rebuilding American Higher Education: from an Engine of Inequality to a Pillar of the Public Interest In-person panel discussion in NYC: jainfamilyinstitute.org/event-on-dec...

Very glad to have been on @leftanchor.bsky.social to discuss l’Affaire Summers and the grotesquerie of “progressive” economic policy types covering for him & retaliating against his accusers to forward their own careers/garner his approval. #econsky

fresh @leftanchor.bsky.social bonus ep, we have @econmarshall.bsky.social on to talk about Larry Summers, his good pal Jeff Epstein, and Summers' noxious influence on the discipline of economics as well as Democratic Party policymaking www.patreon.com/posts/144130...

WOKE IS BACK

Summers is gone. Now: why did he survive so long? www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

I have been feeling depressed and discouraged that this man has the power and influence he does at my school and in my profession And I am a tenured professor at Harvard! How much more protected can I be? Imagine how STUDENTS feel. Junior faculty. This quote nails it

“Short bursts indicate an ICE sighting. Long whistles indicate agents making arrests. If you hear the whistle and you’re undocumented, said [Whitney Hu, a community activist and organizer with South Brooklyn Mutual Aid], ‘you hide. And if you’re somebody who’s not, you go to the street.’”

Fantastic podcast episode. At one point @katewagner.wehwalt.net points out that McMansions come in all sorts of styles, including post-modern, which consists of oddly arranged rectangles. Behold my neighbor, completed ca. 2024. The owner is from Texas. www.patreon.com/posts/143733...

We should introduce a new heuristic for judging academic careers: If they pursue the same field than their famous academic relatives, it's likely because of networks not ability.

On this point, any regrets from the progressive nonprofit industrial complex for vilifying Claudia Sahm for blowing the whistle on Summers in 2020? Or was it all worth one failed administration’s worth of fancy economic policy appointments?

Damn, almost makes you feel sorry for @americanprogress.bsky.social building their whole economic policy platform around him, until you remember that they put Neera back in charge and so not cleaning house when you have the chance seems to be their MO! The dangers of gerontocracy.

gosh I wonder why they called her peril www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

😬 👇 😬