The economic logic and moral imperative of living wages -- Debating living wage laws : Paul Krugman versus Robert Pollin -- A $6.15 minimum wage for New Orleans : what it would have meant for businesses -- The Santa Fe citywide living wage measure : the impact on business of the $8.50 standard...

In early 2007, there were approximately 140 living wage ordinances in place throughout the United States. Communities around the country frequently debate new proposals of this sort. Additionally, as a result of ballot initiatives, twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia, representing...

The term "living wage" has been used in two separate ways: 1) a wage rate that will enable workers and their families to live above a reasonable poverty threshold; and 2) a somewhat more ambitious standard, a wage rate that will meet a family's basic budgetary needs. This paper attempts to...

This paper first examines the question "what is a living wage" and provides a range of specific dollar amounts derived from a conceptual assessment of the term. I then provide a series of cost estimates of living wage laws in various cities. Based on these cost estimates, I examine a set of...