Yes, a nationwide $15 minimum wage would be quite damaging

Praise be, we now have the economic research to prove that higher minimum wages have no ill effects, so let’s push onward to $15 an hour for all, right? I predict that’s what will be said about new research, even though that’s not what the research actually says.

The new paper is published in the top economic journal of them all, and certainly the author, Arindrajit Dube, is an excellent researcher. It’s thus fair enough that we take seriously the result, but we need to be very sure of what we’re claiming is the result.