Krugman on Why Nine Dollars an Hour Isn't a Bad Idea

In a nutshell, when you adjust for inflation the minimum wage in the US is lower than it was forty-five years ago. So raising it shouldn't be that big a deal, yet there's a lot of opposition from the usual suspects. Dr K explains.

Now, you might argue that even if the current minimum wage seems low, raising it would cost jobs. But there’s evidence on that question — lots and lots of evidence, because the minimum wage is one of the most studied issues in all of economics. U.S. experience, it turns out, offers many “natural experiments” here, in which one state raises its minimum wage while others do not. And while there are dissenters, as there always are, the great preponderance of the evidence from these natural experiments points to little if any negative effect of minimum wage increases on employment.