Archive for February 20th, 2013

Chart: What happens when the minimum wage is raised?

February 20, 2013

President Obama is pushing to raise the minimum wage to $9 per hour.

The rationale is well-intended: get low-earners closer to a “living wage”

The major argument against the move is econ 101 … and empirical evidence.

The below chart – from AEI’s Mark Perry —  cuts to the chase.

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The chart plots the level of the Federal minimum wage against the number of percentage points that the teenage unemployment rate is over the all-inclusive unemployment rate.

Implicitly, the analysis assumes that the bulk of minimum wage jobs go to teens … and, measuring the differential (instead of the gross rate) normalizes to the overall state of the economy.

The conclusion is stark: when you raise the minimum wage you lose jobs.

Period.

But, some folks argue that economic life is better for the minimum wagers who retain their jobs.

Not so fast …

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Posted in Employment - Jobs, Minimum Wage - Living Wage, Unemployment | 4 Comments »

Odds: I bet you’re a Democrat …

February 20, 2013

… if your parents were Democrats.

And, I bet if your parents were Republicans, then you’re a Republican.

According to Smithsonian.com …

“The party affiliation of someone’s parents can predict the child’s political leanings about around 70 percent of the time.”

That’s pretty good, but “new research suggests ideological differences between partisans may reflect distinct neural processes.”

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More specifically, researchers say that they can predict who’s right and who’s left of center politically with 82.9 % accuracy.

Here’s the study and its implications …

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Posted in Brain - thinking, Politics, Politics - General | Leave a Comment »