Morning Must-Read: Ed Glaeser: Raise earnings, but go beyond the minumum wage to do it

Ed Glaeser: Raise earnings, but go beyond the minumum wage to do it: “CAN’T AMERICA, and Massachusetts, find a better weapon to combat income inequality than raising the minimum wage?

I don’t oppose the efforts of those, including Speaker DeLeo and President Obama, who want to raise the minimum… but I’ll be sad if we once again resort to this hoary policy sledgehammer…. Oceans of ink have been spent disputing the employment effects of the minimum wage…. In my view… no major impact on employment levels is likely…. The good news is that we have had a better way to raise wages for the lowest-paid workers for more than 40 years: the earned income tax credit…. Raising the minimum wage isn’t necessarily wrongheaded. But if we want a better way to reduce inequality and raise earnings for the least fortunate Americans, targeted tax credits and government subsidies are a more creative, fair, and effective course.