Some people would have you believe the impact of a minimum wage hike on employment is known to be large and negative. A cursory acquaintance with the literature helps in immunizing one (if one believes in vaccines and the like) against falling for such assertions.
Author Archives: Menzie Chinn
Pompeii on SF Bay?
Will a minimum wage increase induce an apocalyptic conflagration of small businesses and low wage employment? Here’s one prediction:
This is not the time to force businesses to raise prices by laying-off employees in order to stay in business.
What good is raising the minimum wage if prices go up? What good is raising the minimum wage if there are no jobs available?
Businesses will be forced to raise prices in order to absorb a 26% pay increase. Restaurants will be especially hard hit.
Guest Contribution: “Currency politics: Understanding the euro”
Today, we’re fortunate to have a guest contribution by Jeffry Frieden, Stanfield Professor of International Peace at Harvard University, and author of the newly published Currency Politics: The Political Economy of Exchange Rate Policy (Princeton University Press, 2015). This post is based upon a portion of that book.
Guest Contribution: “Currency politics, debt politics”
Today, we’re fortunate to have a guest contribution by Jeffry Frieden, Stanfield Professor of International Peace at Harvard University, and author of the newly published Currency Politics: The Political Economy of Exchange Rate Policy (Princeton University Press, 2015). This post is based upon a portion of that book.
The Yield Curve and Economic Activity, Again
The New York Times has an article in The Upshot today, which shows the yield curve over time in a nifty map. They also show the topography for yields in Germany and Japan.
“Wisconsin job creation rank falls to 38th in U.S.”
That’s the title of an article by John Schmid and Kevin Crowe in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel today, based upon just-released state level data on the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW):
Wisconsin gained 27,491 private-sector jobs in the 12 months from September 2013 through September 2014, a 1.16% increase that ties Wisconsin with Vermont and Iowa at a rank of 38th among the 50 states in the pace of job creation during that period.
Short Term Implications of the House Budget
The CBO took at face value the revenue and spending levels in the House Budget, FY2016, and assessed the impact on GNP per capita (remember, this is not a score, as there are few details on specific provisions to hit the targets). The impact is shown in Figure 2 from the CBO.
Some Implications of the Dollar’s Rise
Currency appreciation will be a drag; this implies a policy of slower monetary tightening is in order
“For a few dollars more: Reserves and growth in times of crises”
This paper, coauthored with Matthieu Bussière (Banque de France), Gong Cheng (European Stability Mechanism), and Noëmie Lisack (EUI), is now published and online.
Guest Contribution: “Nowcasting Global GDP Growth”
Today, we are fortunate to present a guest contribution written by Laurent Ferrara (Banque de France, Head of the International Macro Division) and Clément Marsilli (Banque de France, Economist at the International Macro Division). The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this article are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the Banque de France.