Flexibility isn’t for everyone

In the 1940s, Ben Dunne senior was working as a buyer at Roches Stores in Cork when he was asked to oversee the company’s entire drapery business. He sought a pay rise. They refused. So he left. And he then set up Dunnes Stores.

This is precisely what economists like to think workers should do if they don’t like their wages. Conversely, they like to argue that it should be easy to hire ...