The blinkered economics of the Chicago City Council

Gary Washburn and H. Gregory Meyer report in today’s Chicago Tribune that City Council opposition has succeeded in thwarting Wal-Mart’s plans to open up a big box store in the South side of the city (for previous posts on this topic click here, here and here): Wal-Mart will continue work–for now–on plans for a new ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

Gary Washburn and H. Gregory Meyer report in today's Chicago Tribune that City Council opposition has succeeded in thwarting Wal-Mart's plans to open up a big box store in the South side of the city (for previous posts on this topic click here, here and here):

Gary Washburn and H. Gregory Meyer report in today’s Chicago Tribune that City Council opposition has succeeded in thwarting Wal-Mart’s plans to open up a big box store in the South side of the city (for previous posts on this topic click here, here and here):

Wal-Mart will continue work–for now–on plans for a new store on Chicago’s West Side but will not pursue a proposed outlet on the South Side in the wake of wrangling and delays, the company said Tuesday. Wal-Mart foes said they will seek to block a zoning change that would allow the South Side store anyway, questioning the sincerity of a company that has been under a withering attack since announcing its intention to open stores in the city earlier this year. Wal-Mart’s plans in the city may be determined by what happens with two pending ordinances that would set minimum pay and benefit standards for employees of “big box” retailers, including Wal-Mart, said John Bisio, a company spokesman…. Delays related to opposition to Wal-Mart have pushed back plans for a South Side shopping complex at 83rd Street and Stewart Avenue that would have included a Wal-Mart. When the retailer sought to persuade the site’s developer to extend a recent signing deadline in order “to see how those [big box] proposals played out,” the request was turned down, Bisio said. That forced the company to cancel its plans on the South Side, he said.

What might those two proposed ordinances be? Glad you asked:

[North Side Alderman Joe] Moore is co-sponsor of a measure that would require big retailers to pay a minimum of $10-an-hour in wages and benefits to workers. Ald. Edward Burke (14th) has co-sponsored another proposal that would set a $12.43-an-hour minimum wage and require that 40 percent of all merchandise sold by the big retailers be manufactured in the United States. Moore’s ordinance would apply only to new big box stores; Burke’s to new and existing stores.

While even free-market enthusiasts acknowledge that the effect of minimum wage laws is not cut and dried, I’m pretty sure even Alan Kruger would say that $12.43 would be a deleterious move. A $10 minimum wage with a grandfather clause would be equally bad. As for the content provision, well, that’s just moronic. As a south sider who would like to see more jobs and more commerce created in the neighborhood, I’d like to thank Alderman Joe Moore and Alderman Edward Burke for doing such bang-up jobs at public policy. If you’d like to thank them too, feel free to shoot an e-mail to Mr. Moore or an e-mail to Mr. Burke applauding them for their bold and imaginative contributions to urban planning and economic development!!

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

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