Description/Abstract
Half a century ago George Stigler stated that evaluation of minimum wage policy should revolve around two questions: Does such legislation diminish poverty? Are there efficient alternatives? We argue that historically these were and continue to be appropriate questions to ask with respect to this policy. We then replicate and evaluate the analysis in Chapter 9 of Myth and Measurement: The New Economics of the Minimum Wage with regards to these questions. Given the evolution of the Earned Income Tax Credit we conclude that, aside from nostalgia, it is hard to explain the continued support for increasing the minimum wage by those interested in helping the working poor, and that Card and Krueger provide little new evidence to rekindle such support.
Document Type
Working Paper
Date
6-1995
Language
English
Series
Income Security Policy Series
Disciplines
Economic Policy | Economics | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Public Policy
ISSN
1061 1843
Recommended Citation
Burkhauser, Richard V.; Couch, Kenneth A.; and Wittenburg, David, "Putting the Minimum Wage Debate in a Historical Context: Card and Krueger Meet George Stigler" (1995). Center for Policy Research. 406.
https://surface.syr.edu/cpr/406
Source
Local Input
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Included in
Economic Policy Commons, Economics Commons, Public Policy Commons
Additional Information
Policy studies paper no.10