Scholarly Comments on Academic Economics

Reasons for Supporting the Minimum Wage: Asking Signatories of the “Raise the Minimum Wage” Statement

by ,

Daniel B. Klein
Stewart Dompe

Abstract

In October 2006, the Economic Policy Institute released a “Raise the Minimum Wage” statement signed by more than 650 individuals. Using an open-ended, non-anonymous questionnaire, we asked the signatories to explain their thinking on the issue. The questionnaire asked about the specific mechanisms at work, possible downsides, and whether the minimum wage violates liberty. Ninety-five participated. This article reports the responses. It also summarizes findings from minimum-wage surveys since 1976.

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Volume (Issue)
Pages
125-167
Published
JEL classification
J0, J3
Keywords
minimum wage, disemployment, non-wage job attributes, questionnaire, survey, liberty, monopsony
Article Downloads (all formats)
17743 since Jan 2007

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