Minimum Wage

I’ve labeled my opponent’s examples C1, C2, et cetera, and my own P1, P2, P3, et cetera, for ease of reading. C1. Well, yes, it’s true that there is some research that suggests minimum wage causes unemployment. There’s also some research that suggests it makes no statistically significant difference, or actually makes a positive difference (ie reduces unemployment). Studies that support the minimum wage (in terms of unemployment) include: - David Card and Alan B. Krueger, "Minimum Wages and Employment: A Case Study of the Fast-Food Industry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania," American Economic Review, Volume 84, no. 4 (September 1994), pp. 774–775. This found that employment rose after an increase in minimum wage. - Thomas C. Leonard, "The Very Idea of Applying Economics: The Modern Minimum-Wage Controversy and its Antecedents," History of Political Economy 32 (1), p. 139 (2000). This found that studies concluding that studies concluding unemployment rose after the implementation of a minimum wage had methological flaws had not be responded to by those who had written aforementioned studies. PDF: http://www.princeton.edu... - Hristos Doucouliagos and T.D. Stanley, "Publication Bias in Minimum-Wage Research? A Meta-Regression Analysis," British Journal of Industrial Relations, 2008. Another study found that after publication bias was corrected for, there was no relationship between minimum wage and unemployment. While the minimum wage was believed to cause increases in unemployment in the 1990s, that view is no longer the consensus among economists[1]. Currently there isn’t really much of one. Further peer-reviewed research is probably warranted. C2. It’s true that Wal-Mart may be doing this to discourage competition (emphasis on may; I am not a member of the heads of Wal-Mart so I cannot say for sure—it is possible that they are doing so for other reasons still not related to alturism). But in a similar light, some people can’t afford to comply with OSHA regulations. Is competition an end in and of itself, or is it to serve a greater purpose? If it is to serve a greater purpose, then surely there could be specific instances in which competition could not be good. For instance, I would not desire competition between a company that manufactured peanut butter with rat feces in it and one that did not; someone (including myself) might be careless or ignorant and purchase the former rather than the latter. Now, that’s an extreme example, to be sure. Which leaves it up to me to prove that having a minimum wage is, overall, a good thing, even if it decreases competition and (possibly) causes a slight increase in unemployment. There are many paths available for me to do this with; I’ll use several of them. P1. Adoption of a living wage (which is basically a form of a minimum wage that automatically rises) is predicted to decrease premature death.[2] An increase in minimum wage would, of course, lead many to experience raises; currently a family of three with one minimum wage earner earns about 2/3 of the federal poverty level.[3] 1. "A Blunt Instrument; The Minimum Wage," The Economist, October 28, 2006. 2. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov... 3. http://www.epi.org...