American Economists and Minimum Wage Legislation During the Progressive Era: 1912–1923

Abstract

Several recent studies, such as that by David Card and Alan Krueger (1995), have led the economics profession to reconsider the theoretical and empirical arguments for and against minimum wage legislation. Most noteworthy was the fact that two respected members of the mainstream economics profession claimed to have found that an increased minimum wage did not lead to increases in unemployment. Moreover, their result was derived from the market for unskilled labor.

The Rhetorical Evolution of the Minimum Wage

“…Over the last century proponents of the minimum wage have couched their arguments in terms of macroeconomic questions: how best to achieve greater efficiency and create a more just society (Webb 1912;Prasch 1998; Levin-Waldman forthcoming). Though conceptions of justice vary, for the purposes of this paper I will define a just society in substantive terms as a society whereby workers earn wages sufficient to sustain themselves and their families.…”

Corporate Strategy and the American Standard of Living: reviewing David Gordon's Fat and Mean

“…It was their view that employers had an ethical duty to pay a living wage and thereby spare society the indirect costs associated with what appeared, from the narrow perspective of the employer, to be 'cheap labour' (Ryan, 1906;Seager, 1913). An argument for wages and hours legislation flowed directly from this analysis (Prasch, 1998).…”

The Child Labor Problem and the Need for International Labor Standards

“…(1924,226) A second link is with Progressive Era economists' discussion of the minimum wage. Robert Prasch (1998Prasch ( , 1999 provided a thoughtful survey of the arguments raised by these economists, and many have clear parallels with today's arguments for global labor standards.…”