Most accounts of why cities pass living wage ordinances stress the importance of grassroots coalitions that have successfully mobilized bias out of concerns for justice and fairness. On the basis of data from the Integrated Public Micro-Use Data Series (IPUMS) for the years 1950-1990, this paper...

Survey responses make it clear the minimum wage can be raised. The question now is how high can it be raised before serious employment consequences occur.

To what extent have small businesses hired former welfare recipients and what might induce them to hire more? Do small businesses change their hiring and employment practices in response to an increase in the minimum wage? The Levy Institute conducts a national survey of small firms in many...

During the Progressive period of American history the debate over the minimum wage was often between those who clung to traditional economic theory as a reason for not having a minimum wage and those who saw the efficiency-wage benefits of adopting one. Although the latter argument proved quite...

As much as the minimum wage is an economic issue, it is above all a political one. First, there are the politics surrounding the choice of models. Second, there are the political interests of those who engage in the debate. The choice of methodological models can lead to different ideological...

In 1993 President Clinton expanded the earned income tax credit (EITC), a refundable credit allowed to households with children aimed at reducing the tax burden of employment for the working poor. In this working paper, Levy Institute Research Associate Oren M. Levin-Waldman examines why the...

The change in the composition of Congress resulting from the 1994 election was viewed by some Republicans as a "triumph of conservatism over the perceived abuses of liberalism." In this working paper, Resident Scholar Oren M. Levin-Waldman examines polling data to explore whether the rejection...

Democratic society requires individuals to be autonomous, and those with greater resources are likely to enjoy greater autonomy. Democracy also assumes that individuals will participate in the affairs of their community, i.e. there will be civic engagement. But civic engagement may also be...