The Minimum Wage: A Brief Rant
First, some economic humor. Well, the tragic kind anyway.
There are about a zillion reasons why the minimum wage is a bad idea. And in case you were wondering, at the top of the list is that doesn’t actually help the people that proponents claim it helps — and in fact, it typically hurts them! Economics is so completely clear on this issue, that the only argument I’ve heard not completely disproven by basic economic reasoning is “I don’t believe in economics on this issue.” (The qualifier is important: few people who have read a book don’t believe in economics, but some choose to apply economics selectively beause they don’t want to be perceived as inhumane when what we want for society conflicts with pesky logic.)
My rant was inspired by this post. I don’t see a real need right now to further elaborate on the economic implications of the minimum wage beyond this link, but I’m happy to debate in the comments if somebody wants to disagree.
[Update 6/1/07: I should have added that I’ve already written on the minimum wage, the most recent example being commentary on living wages which are a particularly radical perversion of the minimum wage wrapped in slightly better packaging.]
