A Challenge to Minimum Wage Advocates

The only positive thing about minimum wage logic is that it is easily defeated. Common sense economics rejects it, but non-economic arguments cause it problems, too.

Here is a non-economic challenge to minimum wage proponents I have yet to hear convincingly answered (perhaps a commenter or my counterpart Tim can provide an explanation): If someone—say, John—wants to work for six dollars an hour at Company X, and Company X wants to hire John for that wage, why should that be illegal?

Why the Stimulus Failed, Part Two

I recently explained why government stimulus spending must fail. Tim contested my argument, but I will show why it stands.

The basic flaw with stimulus spending is that, in order to spend a dollar into the economy, government must remove a dollar from the economy, which renders spending a zero-sum transfer of resources.

Tim challenged these basics by asserting that not all money is contributing to economic activity, so utilizing “idle” dollars for government expenditure would avoid the zero-sum critique and raise national income. There are three reasons this is wrong.

Minimum Wage: Minimum Idea

Tim recently argued that raising the minimum wage is sound economics. However, doing so would hurt many poor people.

The crux of his argument is that low-wage workers are not paid their proper value for their contribution—in economic jargon, their “marginal product”—and that therefore an increase in the minimum wage would render little, if any, job loss. He further bolsters his case by stating that studies since 2000 demonstrate “little to no employment response to modest increases in the minimum wage.” In fact, he reasons, “a higher minimum wage may even save some employers money in the long term because it reduces costs associated with higher turnover and vacancies by making minimum wage jobs more desirable.”

These points do not support the case for raising the minimum wage.