IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wpa/wuwpma/0004027.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Rhetorical Evolution of the Minimum Wage

Author

Listed:
  • Oren Levin-Waldman

    (The Jerome Levy Economics Institute)

Abstract

The concept of the minimum wage has undergone several rhetorical permutations. Originally conceived as a living wage, which would function as a family wage, it ultimately became a matter of macroeconomic policy, the goals of which were to achieve greater efficiency and in some cases economic development. In recent years, the rhetoric has narrowed to a debate that pits a youth disemployment effect against assisting the poor. This paper traces the rhetorical evolution of the minimum wage and shows how the rhetoric employed by various groups has been shaped by the specifics of the political and economic environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Oren Levin-Waldman, 2000. "The Rhetorical Evolution of the Minimum Wage," Macroeconomics 0004027, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpma:0004027
    Note: Type of Document - Adobe Acrobat PDF; prepared on IBM PC; to print on PostScript; pages: 29; figures: included
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://econwpa.ub.uni-muenchen.de/econ-wp/mac/papers/0004/0004027.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nicole M. Fortin & Thomas Lemieux, 1997. "Institutional Changes and Rising Wage Inequality: Is There a Linkage?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(2), pages 75-96, Spring.
    2. Stigler, George J, 1975. "The Goals of Economic Policy," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(2), pages 283-292, October.
    3. Brown, Charles & Gilroy, Curtis & Kohen, Andrew, 1982. "The Effect of the Minimum Wage on Employment and Unemployment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 487-528, June.
    4. Lang, Kevin & Kahn, Shulamit, 1998. "The effect of minimum-wage laws on the distribution of employment: theory and evidence," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 67-82, July.
    5. Paul Kamolnick, 1993. "American Workers and the Future of Minimum Wage Politics," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 25(2), pages 26-49, June.
    6. Brown, Charles, 1988. "Minimum Wage Laws: Are They Overrated?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 2(3), pages 133-145, Summer.
    7. Jerold Waltman & Allan McBride & Nicole Camhout, 1998. "Minimum Wage Increases and the Business Failure Rate," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 219-223, March.
    8. Kosters, Marvin & Welch, Finis, 1972. "The Effects of Minimum Wages on the Distribution of Changes in Aggregate Employment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(3), pages 323-332, June.
    9. Oren M. Levin-Waldman & George W. McCarthy, "undated". "Small Business and the Minimum Wage," Economics Policy Note Archive 98-3, Levy Economics Institute.
    10. David Neumark & William Wascher, 1992. "Employment Effects of Minimum and Subminimum Wages: Panel Data on State Minimum Wage Laws," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 46(1), pages 55-81, October.
    11. Richard V. Burkhauser & T. Aldrich Finegan, 1989. "The minimum wage and the poor: The end of a relationship," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 8(1), pages 53-71.
    12. Marvin H. Kosters, 1996. "The Effects of the Minimum Wage on Employment," Books, American Enterprise Institute, number 52900, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Levin-Waldman, Oren M., 2008. "Characteristics of cities that pass living wage ordinances: Are certain conditions more conducive than others?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 2201-2213, December.
    2. Gautié, Jérôme, 2015. "D'un siècle à l'autre, salaire minimum, science économique et débat public aux États-Unis, en France et au Royaume-Uni (1890-2015)," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Docweb) 1518, CEPREMAP.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Oren M. Levin-Waldman, 1999. "The Rhetorical Evolution of the Minimum Wage," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_280, Levy Economics Institute.
    2. Oren M. Levin-Waldman, "undated". "Do Institutions Affect the Wage Structure? Right-to-Work Laws, Unionization, and the Minimum Wage," Economics Public Policy Brief Archive ppb_57, Levy Economics Institute.
    3. Richard V. Burkhauser & Kenneth A. Couch & David C. Wittenburg, 2000. "Who Minimum Wage Increases Bite: An Analysis Using Monthly Data from the SIPP and the CPS," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 67(1), pages 16-40, July.
    4. Oren M. Levin-Waldman, "undated". "The Minimum Wage Can Be Raised: Lessons from the 1999 Levy Institute Survey of Small Business," Economics Policy Note Archive 99-6, Levy Economics Institute.
    5. Oren M. Levin-Waldman, 1999. "The Minimum Wage and Regional Wage Structure: Implications for Income Distribution," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_267, Levy Economics Institute.
    6. Katerina Sherstyuka & Dolgorsuren Dorjb & Gerard Russo, 2014. "Health Insurance and the Labor Market with Wage Rigidities: Insights from a Laboratory Experiment," Working Papers 201427, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    7. R. V. Burkhauser & K. A. Couch & A. J. Glenn, "undated". "Public policies for the working poor: The earned income tax credit versus minimum wage legislation," Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Papers 1074-95, University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty.
    8. Oren M. Levin-Waldman, 1998. "Exploring the Politics of the Minimum Wage," Macroeconomics 9805010, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Oren M. Levin-Waldman, 1996. "Exploring the Politics of the Minimum Wage," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_176, Levy Economics Institute.
    10. Alan Manning, 2021. "The Elusive Employment Effect of the Minimum Wage," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 3-26, Winter.
    11. Golan, Amos & Perloff, Jeffrey M. & Wu, Ximing, 2001. "Welfare Effects of Minimum Wage and Other Government Policies," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt0gb7h58q, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    12. Richard V. Burkhauser & Kosali I. Simon, 2008. "Who Gets What From Employer Pay or Play Mandates?," Risk Management and Insurance Review, American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 11(1), pages 75-102, March.
    13. Oren M. Levin-Waldman, "undated". "Automatic Adjustment of the Minimum Wage, Linking the Minimum Wage to Productivity," Economics Public Policy Brief Archive ppb_42, Levy Economics Institute.
    14. R. D. Husby, 1993. "The Minimum Wage, Wage Subsidies, And Poverty," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 11(3), pages 30-38, July.
    15. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2101-2163 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Oren M. Levin-Waldman, 1998. "Linking the Minimum Wage to Productivity," Macroeconomics 9802015, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Oren M. Levin-Waldman, 1998. "State Type and Congressional Voting on the Minimum Wage," Macroeconomics 9808007, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 01 Sep 1998.
    18. Young Cheol Jung & Adian McFarlane & Anupam Das, 2021. "The effect of minimum wages on consumption in Canada," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 32(1), pages 65-89, March.
    19. Oren M. Levin-Waldman, 1997. "Linking the Minimum Wage to Productivity," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_219, Levy Economics Institute.
    20. Holmlund, Bertil, 2014. "What do labor market institutions do?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 62-69.
    21. David Neumark & Mark Schweitzer & William Wascher, 2005. "The Effects of Minimum Wages on the Distribution of Family Incomes: A Nonparametric Analysis," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 40(4), pages 867-894.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpma:0004027. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: EconWPA (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://econwpa.ub.uni-muenchen.de .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.