Other people think the concept of price controls is tied to morals when it comes to minimum wages.
When you consider our democratic system it becomes pretty obvious. You need slightly more than 50% of the votes. So the minimum wage is picked so that at least 50% of the population earns more than it. Therefore by definition a minimum wage chosen by politicians is going to set it to a really low value that will then be associated with poorer people. Therefore the minimum wage gains a reputation of helping poorer people.
But at the end of the day it's just a price control. Minimum wage has nothing to do with morals. It's just a rule that says who can or can't have a job. It doesn't actually give people a minimum wage job. You can set it high or low. If it is too low then it does nothing. If it is too high then it prevents people from getting a job. The minimum wage must always follow the market, because the market won't follow the minimum wage.
I used to believe this, back in the 80s I was a true Thatcherite believer. I still largely am, but some of the things I believed back then have turned out to be false, and the dire economic impact of minimum ages seems to have turned out to be one of them. This is why Conservative governments in the UK have been carefully ratcheting up the minimum wage here over the last decade or so.
A feared employment apocalypse at the low end has stubbornly refused to appear, at minimum wage levels that would have been considered reckless not long ago, and it's proved a useful policy coup neutralising a key Labour campaigning point.
When you consider our democratic system it becomes pretty obvious. You need slightly more than 50% of the votes. So the minimum wage is picked so that at least 50% of the population earns more than it. Therefore by definition a minimum wage chosen by politicians is going to set it to a really low value that will then be associated with poorer people. Therefore the minimum wage gains a reputation of helping poorer people.
But at the end of the day it's just a price control. Minimum wage has nothing to do with morals. It's just a rule that says who can or can't have a job. It doesn't actually give people a minimum wage job. You can set it high or low. If it is too low then it does nothing. If it is too high then it prevents people from getting a job. The minimum wage must always follow the market, because the market won't follow the minimum wage.