The Politics of the Minimum Wage

The Politics of the Minimum Wage

Author: Jerold L. Waltman

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 9780252025457

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The minimum wage as a value of civic republicanism The minimum wage appears to be a standard economic regulatory measure, yet a politics of symbolism more than anything else defines the political contests that periodically erupt over it. Detractors abhor its corruption of market principles, while supporters see it as a measure of society's symbolic commitment to the poor. Tracing the history of the minimum wage and exposing its inherent contradictions as a political issue, Jerold Waltman proposes an alternative to the economic arguments that now dominate debates over it. Citing overwhelming public support for the minimum wage as evidence of an enduring civic consciousness and humanitarianism, Waltman advocates recasting the discussion in terms of a political economy of citizenship. Such a perspective would focus on the communal value of work, the need for citizens to have a stake in the community, and the effects of economic inequality on the bonds of common citizenship. Positioning the minimum wage as a fulcrum for the most basic conflict underlying America's unique combination of democracy and a market economy, The Politics of the Minimum Wage shows how a defense of the minimum wage built on a communal sense of responsibility rests on a strong tradition of civic republicanism and strengthens the hope for a truly democratic society.


What Does the Minimum Wage Do?

What Does the Minimum Wage Do?

Author: Dale Belman

Publisher: W.E. Upjohn Institute

Published: 2014-07-07

Total Pages: 489

ISBN-13: 0880994568

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Belman and Wolfson perform a meta-analysis on scores of published studies on the effects of the minimum wage to determine its impacts on employment, wages, poverty, and more.


Minimum Wages

Minimum Wages

Author: David Neumark

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 389

ISBN-13: 0262141027

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A comprehensive review of evidence on the effect of minimum wages on employment, skills, wage and income distributions, and longer-term labor market outcomes concludes that the minimum wage is not a good policy tool.


Exploring the Politics of the Minimum Wage

Exploring the Politics of the Minimum Wage

Author: Oren M. Levin-Waldman

Publisher:

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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As much as the minimum wage is an economic issue, it is above all a political one. First, there are the politics surrounding the choice of models. Second, there are the political interests of those who engage in the debate. The choice of methodological models can lead to different ideological positions which ultimately get played out in the political arena. This paper specifically examines the debate between two models--the "demand constrained" v. the "supply constrained"--and the ideological implications that flow from each. After which, it addresses itself to the question of why it is that one particular model has become the political focus of the debate at the expense of others. Because good data on the minimum wage has been so lacking, the issue has been ripe for political manipulation. This is most evident in those states with "right-to-work" laws. An examination of voting patterns by members of Congress shows that while Democratic members generally vote for minimum wage increases, they consistently vote against them when they are from "right-to-work" states. Conversely, while Republican members generally vote against increases in the wage, they tend to vote for them when they come from states with high union densities. What this suggests, then, is that given the fact that empirical data on the effects of the minimum wage have been ambiguous at best, it is more likely that the minimum wage will increase when there is strong political support for it. Or at the very least, it is more likely to increase when strong political arguments can be made on its behalf.


Minimum Wage Policy in Great Britain and the United States

Minimum Wage Policy in Great Britain and the United States

Author: Jerold L. Waltman

Publisher: Algora Publishing

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 0875866018

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Analyzing wage policies and the political ideas that underlie them, including the irony of an Iraq funding bill leading to a minimum wage increase, this book compares not only Federal but State minimum wage policies and those of Britain as well. Going beyond the debate on public expenditure programs, the author examines the future of the "welfare state"? not from a perspective of entitlement but of citizenship in a public polity.


Minimum Wage Regimes

Minimum Wage Regimes

Author: Irene Dingeldey

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-06-28

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 0429688369

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This book goes beyond traditional minimum wage research to investigate the interplay between different country and sectoral institutional settings and actors’ strategies in the field of minimum wage policies. It asks which strategies and motives, namely free collective bargaining, fair pay and/or minimum income protection, are emphasised by social actors with respect to the regulation and adaptation of (statutory) minimum wages. Taking an actor-centered institutionalist approach, and employing cross-country comparative studies, sector studies and single country accounts of change, the book relates institutional and labour market settings, actors’ strategies and power resources with policy and practice outcomes. Looking at the key pay equity indicators of low wage development and women’s over-representation among the low paid, it illuminates our understandings about the importance of historical junctures, specific constellations of social actors, and sector- and country-specific actor strategies. Finally, it underlines the important role of social dialogue in shaping an effective minimum wage policy. This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and policy-makers and practitioners in industrial relations, international human resource management, labour studies, labour market policy, inequality studies, trade union studies, European politics and political economy.


Minimum Wages

Minimum Wages

Author: E. G. West

Publisher: Economic Council of Canada and the Institute for Research on Public Policy

Published: 1980

Total Pages: 142

ISBN-13:

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Monograph on minimum wages, with special reference to Canada - covers trends since 1965 concerning local level wage structure and wage determination, and deals with economic theory issues regarding employment, unemployment, income distribution and prices, effectiveness as an anti-poverty and income redistribution tool, and its preference to negative income tax. Bibliography pp. 111 to 119 and statistical tables.


Myth and Measurement

Myth and Measurement

Author: David Card

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2015-12-22

Total Pages: 454

ISBN-13: 0691169128

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David Card and Alan B. Krueger have already made national news with their pathbreaking research on the minimum wage. Here they present a powerful new challenge to the conventional view that higher minimum wages reduce jobs for low-wage workers. In a work that has important implications for public policy as well as for the direction of economic research, the authors put standard economic theory to the test, using data from a series of recent episodes, including the 1992 increase in New Jersey's minimum wage, the 1988 rise in California's minimum wage, and the 1990-91 increases in the federal minimum wage. In each case they present a battery of evidence showing that increases in the minimum wage lead to increases in pay, but no loss in jobs. A distinctive feature of Card and Krueger's research is the use of empirical methods borrowed from the natural sciences, including comparisons between the "treatment" and "control" groups formed when the minimum wage rises for some workers but not for others. In addition, the authors critically reexamine the previous literature on the minimum wage and find that it, too, lacks support for the claim that a higher minimum wage cuts jobs. Finally, the effects of the minimum wage on family earnings, poverty outcomes, and the stock market valuation of low-wage employers are documented. Overall, this book calls into question the standard model of the labor market that has dominated economists' thinking on the minimum wage. In addition, it will shift the terms of the debate on the minimum wage in Washington and in state legislatures throughout the country. With a new preface discussing new data, Myth and Measurement continues to shift the terms of the debate on the minimum wage.


The Case of the Minimum Wage

The Case of the Minimum Wage

Author: Oren M. Levin-Waldman

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 2001-01-25

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 9780791448564

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Places contemporary minimum wage debates in historical context, stressing the importance of political as opposed to economic variables.