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Re:Massachusetts Governor Announces Plan to Abolish Noncompetes by GFK_of_xmaspast on Thursday April 10, 2014 @11:16AM (#7566867)
Non-competes are very much pro-business, in that they weaken the power of labor.
Re:Massachusetts Governor Announces Plan to Abolish Noncompetes by rz2k on Thursday April 10, 2014 @12:21PM (#7567503)
And, if understood in that way, it is an instance where the term "pro-business" is a political ideology rather than an economic perspective.

Historically the rationale for pro-business policies is that greater production creates more wealth for everyone in a society. As a result it could be argued that a labor union might hurt an economy if less output comes from the same input, while those labor unions' arguments would be that they disagree about how different working conditions maximize the society's actual utility.

A non-compete on the other hand is a contract to decrease worker productivity. It is the opposite of union agreements that forced companies to employ people whose work is no longer needed, it is an agreement not to work. Furthermore, it isn't even entirely about benefiting business owners over their employees, but about benefiting established companies for their past success rather than whether or not they can compete in the current business environment.

Re:Massachusetts Governor Announces Plan to Abolish Noncompetes by _delirium on Thursday April 10, 2014 @01:15PM (#7568003)
Historically the rationale for pro-business policies is that greater production creates more wealth for everyone in a society.

I don't think that's really true, in a realpolitik sense if you look into why different interest groups were advocating for "pro-business" policies at various points in various countries' histories. Historically the rationale for "pro-business" policies has most often been that they increase the profits of businessmen, which is why parties mainly representing the business sector have advocated for them. Sometimes they produce more wealth for everyone in society, sometimes they reduce it, other times they're roughly wealth-neutral but just reallocating it. But that isn't the point or the parties' raison d'être, though they may pretend it is in their politicking.

Re:Massachusetts Governor Announces Plan to Abolish Noncompetes by nickff on Thursday April 10, 2014 @02:03PM (#7568421)
This is a 'bootleggers and baptists'[1] situation, and it is almost impossible to determine the true motives of the politicians.[1] We might be suspicious of the motives of the politicians, but we should also consider that they may be operating with a variety of rationales, all difficult to disentangle.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootleggers_and_Baptists

Re:Massachusetts Governor Announces Plan to Abolish Noncompetes by rz2k on Thursday April 10, 2014 @02:26PM (#7568631)
It's an excellent term!

It does capture why I am surprised that content distributors have lobbied against ISP favoritism. I want to believe that Netflix wants an entrepreneurial environment like the one that enabled their initial growth, but I can't help wonder if their greatest threat isn't some new upstart, and why they wouldn't be in favor of a large barrier to entry, even if it costs a nontrivial portion of their revenues.

Re:Massachusetts Governor Announces Plan to Abolish Noncompetes by nitrogen on Thursday April 10, 2014 @04:37PM (#7569535)
...I can't help wonder if their greatest threat isn't some new upstart, and why they wouldn't be in favor of a large barrier to entry, even if it costs a nontrivial portion of their revenues.

I have to imagine they are choosing a sizable chunk of a much larger pie instead of the vast majority of a tiny and shrinking pie.

Re:Massachusetts Governor Announces Plan to Abolish Noncompetes by rz2k on Thursday April 10, 2014 @02:11PM (#7568490)
I think that you are right when it comes to something like a negotiation between a business and a labor union. Both sides simply view it as an adversarial process, much like how lawyers represent their clients and presume the system will work it out from there as long as they are relatively honest.

However, while it may often require some credulousness, I think a significant majority of people sincerely believe that their political positions make the world a better a place rather than just their own lot in life.

There are honest discussions that can be had about most policy decisions. For instance, it might be difficult to sell your software business, if you can't legally promise not to immediately launch a competing product. And yet, most of the serious policy mistakes of the past few decades have been made in the wake of debates involving two sets of competing soundbites—a problem that could be improved by better economic education starting at a younger age if I'm right that people are generally motivated to improve the world.

Re:Massachusetts Governor Announces Plan to Abolish Noncompetes by drawkbox on Thursday April 10, 2014 @11:33AM (#7567027)
Small businesses, contractors, freelancers, and more who are asked to sign these are very much businesses and it is very anti-business to them.

It is relative, if you are big and established they are good, if you are small/medium (where most innovation and eventual businesses comes from) then they are bad.

It is anti fair business, but in a monopolistic/feudal/plutocratic type system it might be pro-business to own skilled people (anti-poaching agreements are also pro-business in that view). In a libertarian and free market sense it is anti-business when viewed from the aspect of an individual/small/mid company.

I guess its safer to say non-competes are pro big business and anti small business / anti innovation at least.

Re:Massachusetts Governor Announces Plan to Abolish Noncompetes by dragonwriter on Thursday April 10, 2014 @01:40PM (#7568231)
"pro-capital" isn't necessarily the same thing as "pro-business"; non-competes, in particular, reduce labor market mobility, which reduces overall market efficiency in the same way that barriers to capital market liquidity would.
Re:Massachusetts Governor Announces Plan to Abolish Noncompetes by nickff on Thursday April 10, 2014 @02:08PM (#7568463)
Though I have never, and will never sign one of these agreements, I cannot agree with your statement that they "reduce[] overall market efficiency". First off, such a grand claim merits some citation of empirical or theoretical evidence. Secondly, there are a variety of ways that these agreements (which I do not support) may increase productivity, such as by increasing the employer's trust in the employee, allowing the latter to access confidential documents, and increasing the average period of employment, thereby giving the employee more time to accrue experience and improve productivity in a specific field and/or application.
Re:Massachusetts Governor Announces Plan to Abolish Noncompetes by MisterBastahrd on Thursday April 10, 2014 @05:16PM (#7569780)
Yes they do, but they also weaken the labor pool. Their primary purpose as used nowadays is not to protect any vital business interest but to make it difficult for employees to move around the marketplace and seek their best rate.
Re:Massachusetts Governor Announces Plan to Abolish Noncompetes by api on Thursday April 10, 2014 @02:25PM (#7568615)
Capitalism is an adversarial system. People forget that.
Re:Massachusetts Governor Announces Plan to Abolish Noncompetes by pekk on Thursday April 10, 2014 @04:34PM (#7569517)
It's not a zero-sum system.
Re:Massachusetts Governor Announces Plan to Abolish Noncompetes by api on Thursday April 10, 2014 @08:02PM (#7570468)
Doesn't matter. If you have no leverage you don't capture any of the upside regardless of whether the overall system is growing.
Re:Massachusetts Governor Announces Plan to Abolish Noncompetes by dredmorbius on Thursday April 10, 2014 @10:58PM (#7571014)
At its limits it is.

Beyond them, it's negative-sum.

Re:Massachusetts Governor Announces Plan to Abolish Noncompetes by mseebach on Thursday April 10, 2014 @05:25PM (#7569838)
No, it's not. People forget that.