Tom Cohen

Tom Cohen appears in Why the U.S. Has No Guaranteed Paid Vacation as the MIT source who gives the episode its strongest institutional explanation. He argues that the 1930s were a rare U.S. political window when workers had enough power to win federal guarantees such as the minimum wage, overtime, and Social Security, but paid vacation was not included.

Cohen’s core claim is that the United States left many benefits to private negotiation rather than universal law. In the episode, that means vacation, pensions, and health insurance became Employer-Bargained Benefits, making workers and unions choose among take-home pay, security benefits, and time off.

Connections

• MIT - institution attached to Cohen in the source.
• Paid Vacation As Labor Right and Employer-Bargained Benefits - concepts grounded by his explanation.
• [[AmericanFederationOfLabor|AFL]] - union-bargaining path the episode names.
• Daniel Hamermesh - economist who treats Cohen’s explanation as stronger than culture, tax, or consumerism accounts.