Should-Read: Bill Emmott: Escaping the Wage Trap

Should-Read: Bill Emmott: Escaping the Wage Trap: “The main reason governments are leery of intervening in labor markets… https://www.project-syndicate.org/onpoint/escaping-the-wage-trap-by-bill-emmott-2017-05

…is bad memories of failed wage and price controls during the high-inflation 1970s. But a second, more current, reason is that businesses everywhere lobby them to keep out…. It’s time to ignore the lobbies and take courage…. [That] raising the minimum wage really would risk killing employment… today… looks unlikely…. And we need more investment in new technology to raise productivity, not less. Raising minimum wages would help stimulate that investment, while boosting consumer demand.
Japan famously had an “income-doubling” plan in the 1960s. With that successful example in mind, why not introduce a “minimum wage doubling” plan, to be carried out over a period of years, thus giving business the chance to adjust?…