January 25, 2012 | American Enterprise Institute
Neither the policy nor political implications for public sector compensation and collective bargaining are as clear-cut as advocates on either side might have you believe. While proposed reforms to public-sector pensions may seem straightforward as a matter of economics, they are embedded in a morass of political questions, all being debated against the backdrop of the 2012 elections. In an event at AEI Wednesday morning, economists and public opinion experts came together to consider these complicated questions and their implications for policy.
The second panel highlighted a range of views on how public-sector politics will play out in 2012. Henry Olsen argued that the debates about public-employee collective bargaining and compensation fit into the larger discussion and narrative about fairness and earned success, and he cautioned Republicans against seeing the white working class as “neolibertarian.”
Watch a short clip of Mr. Olsen’s presentation below:
For more information on this event, please click here.
