AT Pollin and Luce / Reynolds Reject these studies – they don’t take into account potential disadvantages Neumark and Adams 03 David, prof of econ @ UCI, edits several journals, started several institutes. Scott, director of grad studies @ Wisconsin-Milwaukee, co-editor of Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. “Do Living Wage Ordinances Reduce Urban Poverty?” The Journal of Human Resources, Vol. 38, No. 3 (Summer, 2003), pp. 490-521. [PDI] The best-known work on living wages is the book by Pollin and Luce (1998, hereafter PL). Although the primary purpose of this book was to advocate living wages as a viable poverty-fighting tool, it is a useful starting point for research on the subject. PL argue that living wage ordinances will deliver a higher standard of living for low-income families. They also posit that such legislation will reduce government subsidy/transfer payments to working families.8 This work is problematic. First, PL’s calculations regarding improved living standards and reduced subsidy/transfer payments are based on a family of four with a single wage earner, despite the facts (given in their book) that (i) only 42 percent of those earning at or below the Los Angeles living wage are the single wage earner in a family, and (ii) the average family size for these workers is 2.1, indicating that on average people potentially affected by living wages are not supporting a family of four. Second, PL do not attempt to estimate whether there are disemployment effects or hours reductions from living wages, but instead assume no such effects. If either results from a living wage increase, then some families may suffer potentially sizable income declines. On the other hand, it is no surprise that calculations based on raising wages of low-wage workers while assuming no employment or hours reductions will look beneficial to low-wage workers and to some extent to low-income families. In short, PL’s work cannot be viewed as reliable empirical evidence on the effects of living wages on low-income families. Despite this, calculations paralleling PL’s have been used to evaluate proposed ordinances in other cities (for example, Reynolds 1999). Not surprisingly, given the assumptions, these evaluations reach similar conclusions.
AT Reich et al. There’s no control group in the study—no way of knowing if increases in employment were from living wage or exogenous factors. Holzer 08, (Harry J. Holzer, Georgetown University, Urban Institute and Institute for the Study of Labor, “Living Wage Laws: How Much Do (Can) They Matter?” Discussion Paper No. 3781, October 2008, http://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/35422/1/58433673X.pdf) [PDI] For instance, Reich et al. (2005) have analyzed the extension of San Francisco’s living wage law in 1999 to cover workers at San Francisco International Airport. They combine data from establishments at the airport, surveys of workers there, and administrative data. The study finds strong positive effects on the lowest-paid workers’ wages and reductions in inequality across worker groups. The positive effects at the bottom of the spectrum generate “ripple” effects on wages above those levels. They also find evidence of lower turnover and improved morale among workers. Additional costs to employers are estimated to be less than 1 percent of revenue. Finally, they find no evidence of reduced employment between 1998 and 2001; indeed, employment at the airport rose considerably over this time period. However, it is noteworthy that this study contained no control group at all. A new international terminal was opened at the airport during this time period, and no doubt the terminal contributed importantly to rising employment. Absent the extension of the living wage law, it is impossible to know what the counterfactual level of employment would be, and whether or how much decline there might have been because of that extension.
Generic Contention The aff violates free market principles – restricting the autonomy of companies and some low-wage workers who would get laid off or who can’t find jobs now Sennholz 05 Hans F. Sennholz, Professor Emeritus Grove City College is an Adjunct Scholar of the Mises Institute, Repeal the Minimum Wage, 12-25-05 [PDI] To alleviate minimum-wage unemployment is to restore freedom in the labor market; it would permit the cost of labor to readjust to labor productivity and offer employment to every young man and woman willing and ready to work. A free labor market would welcome young people, which not only would exhort and restore the spirit of work but also improve labor skill and know-how. The labor productivity of American youth soon would rise and exceed the ominous minimum levels that presently condemn millions to idleness. Freedom has a thousand charms even in the labor market. Government control over business is the antithesis of free enterprise and private ownership Von Mises 05 Ludwig von Mises, famous economist of the Austrian school, “Planning for Freedom” MAY 31, 2005 [PDI] The term "planning" is mostly used as a synonym for socialism, communism, and authoritarian and totalitarian economic management. Sometimes only the German pattern of socialism—Zwangswirtschaft—is called planning, while the term socialism proper is reserved for the Russian pattern of outright socialization and bureaucratic operation of all plants, shops, and farms. At any rate, planning in this sense means all-around planning by the government and enforcement of these plans by the police power. Planning in this sense means full government control of business. It is the antithesis of free enterprise, private initiative, private ownership of the means of production, market economy, and the price system. Planning and capitalism are utterly incompatible. Within a system of planning, production is conducted according to the government's orders, not according to the plans of capitalists and entrepreneurs eager to profit by best filling the wants of the consumers.
Minimum Wage Not Applicable Federal living wage would be a huge increase, much larger than the minimum wage, so past studies don’t easily apply. Prefer living wage-specific evidence. Kuehn 14 Daniel, former research associate at the Urban Institute, doctoral student @ American University in economics, MA from George Washington, “The Importance of Study Design in the Minimum-Wage Debate,” Economic Policy Institute 9-4-14 [PDI] Study design offers a means of arbitrating between studies in the often conflicting minimum-wage literature. The strongest designs seem to consistently find little or no evidence of disemployment effects associated with increases in the minimum wage. However, when applying this research to policymaking, these findings do come with caveats. First, we can only make inferences about the impact of a minimum-wage increase if it is relatively similar to the sorts of increases that have been studied. Dube, Lester, and Reich (2010, 962) caution that their “conclusion is limited by the scope of the actual variation in policy; our results cannot be extrapolated to predict the impact of a minimum-wage increase that is much larger than what we have experienced over the period under study.”