WORKERS across the rich world have suffered stagnant wages for much of the past decade, in good times and bad. Governments are responding by proposing increases in minimum wage rates in America, Britain and Germany. A higher wage floor seems like a simple and sensible way to improve workers' fortunes. Yet many economists argue against it: Germany’s leading economic institutes, for instance, have pushed Angela Merkel to resist calls for a wage floor. Why do economists often oppose minimum wages?
