The bad news is that 74 percent of these surveyed economists either disagreed, were “uncertain,” or expressed no opinion that such a huge hike in the minimum wage would cause substantial shrinkage of low-skilled workers’ job prospects.
What are these 74 percent of economists thinking?* What other goods or services – especially ones for which (like low-skilled workers) there are many substitutes – do these economists suppose can have its price forced by diktat to more than double without causing a substantial reduction in the quantity of that good or service demanded by buyers?
Suppose the question were not about the price of hours of low-skilled labor but instead, say, about the price of American-built commercial aircraft? Would 74 percent of my fellow economists either disagree that, be “uncertain” that, or have no opinion on the question of whether a forced 107 percent increase in the price of the likes of 737, 777, and 787 jetliners would cause airlines to cut back substantially on the number of new jetliners they buy from Boeing? Or what if the question were about the prices of fast-food? Would 74 percent of these economists either disagree that, be “uncertain” that, or have no opinion on the question of whether a forced 107 percent increase in the prices of the likes of Big Macs, Baconators, and buckets of KFC fried chicken would cause consumers to cut back substantially on the amount of food they purchase at fast-food restaurants?