… is from comments made after a formal talk in 1962, in Chicago, by the noted labor economist Albert Rees (1921-1992); Rees’s comment quoted below appears on pages 17-18 here):
The minimum wage is really northern legislation by which we in the north have tried to protect ourselves against competition from low-wage industries in the South. If I were a southerner, this would bother me a great deal; it bothers me a bit even so.
If you look at the roll-call votes in the Congress on increases in the minimum wage under the Fair Labor Standards Act, you will find a solid regional alignment – the northerners are always for increases, whether they are Republicans or Democrats, and the southerners, almost all Democrats, are always against it.
See also pages 111-114 of David Henderson’s splendid 2002 volume, The Joy of Freedom.
