EPI Research (Page 22 )

  • Does the Minimum Wage Reduce Poverty?

    June 2001

    This study by economists Richard Vedder and Lowell Gallaway shows convincingly that minimum wages, because of inefficient targeting of the poor and unintended adverse consequences on employment and earnings, are ineffective as an antipoverty device. The report relies on an impressive array of empirical evidence showing that, however one views the data, in the United States, state and federal minimum wages have not reduced poverty.

  • Winners and Losers of Federal and State Minimum Wages

    June 2001

    During recent minimum wage and living wage debates, it is often heard that there is no job loss attached to a mandated wage increase. A majority of economists question the “no displacement” theory, but many policymakers and their constituents believe this theory to be true. Contrary to popular opinion, mandating a higher minimum wage comes at a cost.

    But what if, despite a credible body…

  • State Flexibility: The Minimum Wage and Welfare Reform

    March 2001

    Congress may soon be considering a hike in the national minimum wage under dramatically different circumstances then existed in prior debates. The primary changes result from the welfare reform law of 1996. That law, designed to “end welfare as we know it,” imposed enormous burdens on state governors to increase the workforce participation rate for families receiving public assistance. Today each state confronts new and…

  • Evaluating the Effects of Medicaid on Welfare and Work: Evidence from the Past Decade

    December 2000

    Public policies designed to help unskilled workers sometimes have unintended consequences. For example, several public assistance programs intended to assist people with few marketable skills actually impose extremely high penalties when earnings rise. That is, as a family’s income increases beyond a certain point, most or all of their benefits from the support program are lost because program “marginal tax rates” are high. That is,…

  • The Effects of the Proposed California Minimum Wage Increase

    October 2000

    “Living wage” laws have been enacted in more than fifty states and cities. These laws force employers to pay wages above the federal minimum wage based on some definition of the needs of a hypothetical family, usually a family of four. In an attempt to increase the income of low-wage workers, living wage supporters have proposed state minimum wage levels greater than the federal minimum…

  • Higher Minimum Wages Harm Minority and Inner-City Teens

    September 2000

    Economists and policy makers once again find themselves engaged in a heated debate over proposed legislation to increase the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.15 per hour. A neglected, yet important, component of this debate is the effect of minimum wage hikes on teenagers’ employment and school enrollment. The scant number of studies on this issue have yielded contradictory findings, leaving the issue unresolved.