In a 1973 Paper Entitled "A Living Wage," Published in Annals

question 64

Essay

In a 1973 paper entitled "A Living Wage," published in Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science vol. 409: 33-41), Daniel R. Fusfeld from the Department of Economics at the University of Michigan makes the following statement:
The only effective way to eliminate poverty in the United States is to pay all workers a living wage. As long as working people labor in jobs in which earnings are inadequate to meet even the poverty standards of income, their families will remain poor; furthermore, their poverty will be reproduced from one generation to the next. Our society will continue to suffer from all of the ills associated with poverty: disease, degradation, crime, hostility and anger. p. 35)
This essay is a normative assessment of the living or minimum) wage. In your short-answer essay, include the following elements:
a. What is the purpose of a living wage?
b. Compare and contrast the effects of a living-wage policy set in a labor market where the demand for workers is relatively price inelastic and one where it is relatively price elastic. Graph and explain your results.

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