Some labor links

- Christina Romer with an excellent op-ed on the minimum wage. I agree with most of what she writes here, as people ought to know by now. I do find the constant comparison with the EITC interesting. The reason is presumably that higher wages are intended to increase the amount of labor supplied and the primary alternative labor supply policy for low income workers is the EITC. Another way of looking at it, though, is that the minimum wage is an attempt to raise wages because labor demand is insufficient to raise them to the level that we desire. In some ways this is the more natural alternative to reach for (it's odd to think about raising wages for workers with supply side policies), and yet it's always the EITC that we hear about. Maybe the alternative to the minimum wage ought to be a proper labor demand policy.

- Nancy Folbre discusses the relationship between the minimum wage and family formation.

- Bryan Caplan discusses supply restrictions on doctors. I really need to get into work on this labor market.