Economist David Henderson explains:
Proponents of the minimum wage, when it was legislated in 1938, were disproportionately from Northeastern high-wage states where a minimum wage would be binding only on a very small segment of the labor force. They used it to narrow the differential in wages between the Northeastern states and the Southeastern states, where […]
Archive for the 'Minimum Wage' Category
Jan28th2010
Origin Of The Minimum Wage In The United States
Published by in Economics, Hispanics (Minority Issues) and Minimum Wage. 0 CommentsDec14th2009
How The Minimum Wage Harms Minorities The Most
Published by in Economics, Hispanics (Minority Issues) and Minimum Wage. 18 CommentsA while back I explained this in a post titled, “The Minority Case Against The Minimum Wage“, see here. Economist Steven Horwitz makes the same argument with less verbiage:
During his campaign for the presidency, Barack Obama promised that, in contrast to his predecessor, his presidency would be a “science presidency.” In his first year, […]
Jul8th2009
“What is the essential informational imperfection in our labor market example? Workers have attributes—innate skills, adaptability and maturity, preferences between shirking versus expending effort—that are difficult for employers to observe. As a consequence, employers look for signals about these things. Professor Neumark offers one such signal: If you are an adult and still in a […]
Jun17th2009
“Despite a few exceptions that are tirelessly (and selectively) cited by advocates of a higher minimum wage, the bulk of the evidence — from scores of studies, using data mainly from the U.S. but also from many other countries — clearly shows that minimum wages reduce employment of young, low-skilled people. The best estimates from […]
May26th2009
” When you make lending to high-risk people less attractive, the result is not worse terms for low-risk people who have been profitable all along. The result is that high-risk people get less credit. They used to be able to get credit despite their credit-unworthiness by paying extra; if the law forbids this, why lend […]
Nov20th2008
The Economics Of The Minimum Wage On Teenagers
Published by in Economics, General and Minimum Wage. 2 CommentsCharlene Kalenkoski and Donald Lacombe, both Associate Professors of Economics at Ohio University, have a new paper on the effects of the minimum wage on teenagers. They write:
Abstract:The relationship between minimum wage increases and youth employment is investigated using county-level data and spatial econometric techniques. Results that account for spatial correlation indicate that a 10% […]
Aug28th2008
“There are countries in Europe that would love to have their unemployment rate fall to the 5.7 percent unemployment rate to which ours has risen. Yet those who seem to want us to imitate European economic and social policies never seem to want to consider the actual consequences of those policies. “Unacceptable” is one of […]
Jun9th2008
The Minimum Wage In A Slowing Economy
Published by in Economics, General and Minimum Wage. 0 CommentsIn a growing economy the effects of the minimum wage will be harder to see, not so in a slowing economy.
Economics professor Perry writes, “Accoding to BLS data on unemployment rates by age, it looks like almost all of the .50% increase in May unemployment to 5.5% from 5% in April was due to increases […]
Apr18th2008
Milton Friedman On Race, Poverty And Government
Published by in Capitalism, Chicanoism, Discrimination, Economics, Education, General, Hispanics (Minority Issues), Minimum Wage, ModernPolitics, Myths, Poverty, Vouchers and affirmative action. 2 CommentsYou need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video
From an old speech but just as relevant today as it was then.
Oct4th2007
Quote Of The Day
Published by in Economics, General, Hispanics (Minority Issues), Minimum Wage and Myths. 0 Comments“I just read a very interesting article by Thomas C. Leonard, Protecting Family and Race: The Progressive Case for Regulating Women’s Work, which appeared in the American Journal of Economics and Sociology in July 2005. If you’re at all interested in Progressive Era economists’ and reformers’ attitudes toward working women, this article is a must […]
Aug15th2007
The Politics Of Unions
Published by in Economics, General, Minimum Wage, Unions and Wal-Mart. 1 CommentGary Becker, Nobel Laureate in economics, writes:
Unions always favor increases in minimum wages, even when as in this case the minimum only apply to some employers. Any increase in the minimum wage would raise the demand for unionized skilled workers who would substitute for the less skilled employees displaced by the minimum. Unions have […]
May31st2007
Current teenage unemployment rates for April 2007:
All teenagers: 13.3%
Black teenagers: 30.6%
Male black teenagers: 34%
Female black teenagers: 27.4%
More here and here.
Feb6th2007
Jan25th2007
Historically Low Minimum Wage, Historically Low Unemployment
Published by in Economics, General and Minimum Wage. 4 CommentsThe Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently released its unemployment rate for the year and a look at the report, see here, shows that many states (15 or so) have reached or surpassed their historically lowest unemployment level on record.
Is it a mere coincidence that at a time when the minimum wage is at a […]
Jan24th2007
The Minority Case Against The Minimum Wage
Published by in Discrimination, Economics, General, Hispanics (Minority Issues), Minimum Wage, Personal and Poverty. 2 CommentsMost of you have heard the standard arguments against the minimum wage - that it is a weak poverty reduction tool, it increases prices, increases unemployment, hurts small businesses, makes the economy less efficient, etc, etc, but what I want to write about today is the harm done by the minimum wage that is least […]
Jan15th2007
“Politicians like the minimum wage because the cost of financing it is paid by three groups—the workers (in the form of lower employment), employers (in the form of lower profits) and consumers (in the form of higher prices). Missing from that list is taxpayers—so for politicians, if the negative effects are hidden from most voters, […]
