In a recent column, Paul Krugman argued that opposition to increasing the federal minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $15 per hour is a “radical” position because it refuses “to accept the conclusions of mainstream economics.” This simply isn’t so.

Traditionally, most economists opposed the minimum wage. Although it increased the incomes of low-wage workers who retained their jobs, it was thought to lead to significant job losses. But that consensus, that minimum wage had substantial negative effects on employment, began to change in 1993 when David Card and Alan Krueger published a study suggesting the contrary. They purported to show that employment among fast food workers in New Jersey actually increased after the state raised its minimum wage. The Card and Krueger study has been criticized, and other studies have arrived at different results. But it seems fair to conclude that most economists now believe that the negative employment effects of moderate increases in the minimum wage are likely to be small.