EITC's Not The Alternative to a Minimum Wage, This Is

Higher minimum wages, with their possible disemployment effects, and wage subsidy schemes like the Earned Income Tax Credit are often counterposed as alternative strategies for helping low-wage workers. But as Mike Konczal and Arindrajit Dube explain, it's better to think of them as complementary policies. Wage subsidies help low-wage workers, but also serve in part as a subsidy to low-productivity employers, and they have the benefit of inducing more people to join the workforce. Minimum wag...