In the Daniel Brook's thread below, Nick Beaudrot points out that "the gap between public service and private employment is much larger at the high end, so the opportunity cost of not selling out is much larger than it was in the mid-70s." That's true. But what's the fix?
There are certain social policy innovations that would be good for everyone, including universal health care, making college debt repayment a fixed percentage of post-college salary (though not making college free, as that would largely subsidize the affluent), lowering the barriers to unionization, and so on. But does anyone really have a policy package for increasing non-profit pay? The reason my job is relatively non-lucrative is because my work doesn't create much in the way of monetary value. I like my work, and think it serves a useful role, but in reality, I'm just contributing to a money-losing magazine in a money-losing sector. That's not a recipe for high pay.
