How Effective Is the Minimum Wage at Supporting the Poor?
研究了最低工资政策的反贫困效果，发现提高最低工资对消费者价格产生的增值税效应比典型州销售税更累退，且收益几乎均匀分布在收入分配中，与反贫困初衷相悖。
This study investigates the antipoverty efficacy of minimum wage policies. Proponents of these policies contend that employment impacts are negligible and suggest that consumers pay for higher labor costs through imperceptible increases in goods prices. Adopting this empirical scenario, the analysis demonstrates that an increase in the national minimum wage produces a value-added tax effect on consumer prices that is more regressive than a typical state sales tax and allocates benefits as higher earnings nearly evenly across the income distribution. These income-transfer outcomes sharply contradict portraying an increase in the minimum wage as an antipoverty initiative.