Difference between revisions of "Minimum Wage"

Libertarians claim their opposition is because they consider minimum wage to be government interference with markets for labor.  Roughly 150 years ago, people who made that same claim started the US Civil War to prevent the federal government from abolishing the ancient and customary practice of slavery.  How dare the feds suggest that they must pay black people rather than keep them as slaves?  What an unwarranted federal interference in business and markets!  Sarcasm aside, what this illustrates is that freedoms exist within institutions which distribute the powers and freedoms to the participants.  If a labor market does not permit slavery, it is not fundamentally different than if a labor market does not permit wages below a certain point.  The federal government (and others) regulates the labor market.

Libertarians claim their opposition is because they consider minimum wage to be government interference with markets for labor.  Roughly 150 years ago, people who made that same claim started the US Civil War to prevent the federal government from abolishing the ancient and customary practice of slavery.  How dare the feds suggest that they must pay black people rather than keep them as slaves?  What an unwarranted federal interference in business and markets!  Sarcasm aside, what this illustrates is that freedoms exist within institutions which distribute the powers and freedoms to the participants.  If a labor market does not permit slavery, it is not fundamentally different than if a labor market does not permit wages below a certain point.  The federal government (and others) regulates the labor market.