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1995 St. Louis-Warsaw Transatlantic L.J. 133 (1995)
Social Standards and Labor Market Policy in American Federalism

handle is hein.journals/slwtlj1995 and id is 139 raw text is: SOCIAL STANDARDS AND LABOR MARKET POLICY IN AMERICAN FEDERALISM John Kincaid* All regulatory arrangements require cost-benefit tradeoffs rooted in the val- ues and objectives of particular political societies or unions of states. What works in one political society, therefore, may not work, or even be appropriate, in an- other society. The existence of federalism and a multi-national population adds more complications within a single political society, because of the diversity of commercial preferences and of governments exercising varying degrees of authority. Those governments may seek to set standards exclusively in certain fields of social and labor policy, set standards in cooperation or collusion with each other, or compete with each other in setting standards. Social and labor policy making in the United States reflects all of these dynamics. I. ISSUES OF CAPITALISM AND FEDERALISM The establishment of social standards and labor policies in the United States is strongly affected by two overreaching factors: free-market capitalism and constitutional federalism. As a result, in social and labor standard-setting, powers are shared and divided in two ways: (1) between government (federal, state, and local) and civil society; and (2) between the federal (i.e., national) government and the nation's constituent state and local governments. The long-standing American preference for a free-market economy, as well as the existence of independent enterprises in civil society, continually raise questions about whether, and to what degree, government should regulate labor and social affairs. The United States Constitution and the fifty state constitutions are based on the idea of limited government. Therefore, intense debate generally surrounds the enactment of social and labor standards. Once there is sufficient voter support for government action, debate often shifts to whether laws should be enacted by the federal government or by state and local governments. Such debate centers, in part, on the values of federalism, while policy results are shaped by the existence of independent state governments armed with their own constitutional and political powers. Robert B. and Helen S. Meyner Professor of Government and Public Service and Director of the Meyner Center for the Study of State and Local Government, Lafayette College, Easton, PA. Fellow and former Executive Director (1988-1994) of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergov- ernmental Relations, Washington, D.C.; Editor, Publius: The Journal of Federalism.

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