EITC Isn't The Alternative to a Minimum Wage, This Is

A higher minimum wage, with its possible disemployment effects, is often counterposed with wage subsidy schemes like the Earned Income Tax Credit as an alternative 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 wages (withi...