From the Washington Post:
Raising the minimum wage is so hot right now. President Obama, of course, proposed increasing the federal minimum from $7.25 to $9 an hour, and indexing it to inflation thereafter, in this year’s State of the Union address. Rep. George Miller (D-CA) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) introduced legislation to established a $10.10 an hour minimum... Nick Hanauer, a venture capitalist …proposes raising the minimum wage to $15, a more than doubling of the federal minimum…. But is it a good idea? David Neumark at UC Irvine and William Wascher of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors concluded in a 2007 review of the literature that a solid majority of studies find that minimum wage increases reduce employment, while very few, if any, provide convincing evidence that it increases employment…Neumark’s skeptical too. “The stimulus argument is silly, even putting aside those numbers... “Maybe the slightest effect if minimum wage workers spend a little more of their income than those who pay the minimum wage. But it’s not clear, especially if low income consumers but the output of minimum wage workers.”

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