The Economic Experiment That Upended Reality

Abstract:

In the fall of 2011, one of us gave a presentation on the idea of a $15 minimum wage to a gathering of the Democracy Alliance—one of the most influential networks of left-leaning donors and advocates in the country. It did not go well. Heads shook. Some people in the audience laughed out loud. Later, when we raised the idea with Democratic members of Congress, progressive economists, and liberal think tanks, the reception was similar. They thought we’d lost our minds.