Re-framing the moral appeal of the minimun wage

Abstract

The diversity in the treatment of the minimum wage by economists has contributed to the fuzziness regarding what role this institution is meant to serve in modern society. Particularly, the moral appeal behind the minimum wage, tightly tied to this role, does not seem to have been adequately articulated in the literature. This paper attempts at putting forward an alternative perspective from which the moral appeal of the minimum wage should be evaluated. Specifically, we argue, there is a considerable gain from paying attention to our evolutionary heritage to make sense of the persistent popular support behind the minimum wage laws. In the framework proposed here, the minimum wage laws will be viewed as instrumental in meeting the “primary needs” of those who are offering productive contributions akin to egalitarian sharing of food among our hunter-gather ancestors. The approach taken in this paper will supplement (and slightly modify) old institutionalist framework and equip it with more robust moral foundations.