Coyote Blog has a fascinating analysis based on experience running nature camps of the impact of rising minimum wage laws: Case Studies on the Minimum Wage (Thanks Cafe Hayek)
There are numerous lessons in this short article. Money income is not the only kind of income, workers may prefer a mix of money income and other kinds of compensation (like a free place to live). Minimum wage laws don’t take that into account. Minimum wage laws discriminate against the less productive (who can still profitably be employed at a lower wage), like older folks, the disabled, the less skilled. Some people don’t need a “living wage” because, for example, they are just supplementing retirement income.
Minimum wage laws throw old folks out of work... Doesn’t that melt your icy hearts at all, minimum wage advocates?
