My former research assistant at GMU Econ, Mark Perry (whose blog Carpe Diem is a must-read), re-runs today two superb and insightful cartoons on the minimum wage by the great Henry Payne. These cartoons contain far more wisdom and realism about legislated minimum wages than are revealed not only by the typical politician who bellows ignorantly about “fairness” and “helping working Americans,” but also by some (although not a majority) of economists who spin fine, airy, and esoteric theoretical tales of how, on the chalkboard or in a set of PowerPoint slides, government’s refusal to allow low-skilled workers to take jobs at wages below ‘the minimum’ might maybe possibly perhaps, under just the right circumstances, help low-skilled workers.
Next post: A different path for the Fed
Previous post: NYT: Basic Economics Explains Political Exchange but Not Private Exchange
