most people reject the view that pushing up wages increases unemployment. When I teach intro econ, linking unemployment and excessive wages frequently elicits not only students’ disbelief, but anger: How could I be so callous? But irrationality about labor demand is selective. What happens when my outraged students reach the “Salary Requirements” line on job applications? They could ask for a million dollars a year, but they don’t. When their future rides on it, students honor the economic truism that labor demand slopes down.
