Economics as a discipline wields some ideological power through mystification. What is frequently referred to in media as “basic” economics is in fact loaded with ideological assumptions that often bear little resemblance to reality. Data for Progress (@DataProgress) is proud to host “econo-missed,” an economics advice column for the left, featuring a cast of young economics grad students and practitioners. This econo-missed comes Michael Paarlberg (@MPaarlberg) who is a professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University and an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC. He explores the impact of a tipped minimum wage increase.
Earlier this month, the Washington, DC City Council overturned the results of a June referendum in which a majority of DC voters chose to raise the minimum wage for tipped workers in the city. The tipped minimum wage largely affects restaurant servers and bartenders, and is significantly lower than the minimum wage for all other workers: the federal tipped minimum wage is $2.13, compared to $7.25 for everyone else (in DC, it’s currently $3.89 vs. $13.25).
Read More
