[lbo-talk] What's the deal with conservatives, economists, and the minimum wage?

joanna 123hop at comcast.net
Thu Jan 18 09:44:59 PST 2007


Jason McCullough wrote:


> I’m curious about the list’s opinion on this, especially Doug and
> Dsquared, who I think have discussed this a bit before.
>
> I’ve been in what seems like a never ending argument over the last
> couple weeks with some conservatives, and one economist in particular,
> on a message board I hang out on. There’s an unbelievable level of
> certainty on the right, especially with economists on the right, that
> the minimum wage’s impact is not only significantly negative on
> employment, but significantly negative on the net welfare of the
> people having those jobs.
>
So far as I know there's no data to support the assertion that raising minimum wage causes unemployment. I would think it would even things out: maybe some jobs are lost, but others are gained because the many poor have more money to spend. So mucy for reality.

The problem, I think, is that you think your colleagues arguments have something to do with reality. I suspect that they have more to do with their wanting to assure their place in their existing social milieus: economists-for-hire-who-know-who-butters-their-bread. In other words, their job is not to come up with models that describe reality, but to defend models that justify an existing ideology and practice.

Joanna



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