As we all know, there’s considerable controversy over minimum wage increases. On the one side are people like me insisting that basic economics works — people buy less of more expensive things. On the other side are those who insist that there’s something special about labor, that basic economics doesn’t apply. Because, you know, reasons, or whatever.

One way of sorting through this is to look at what happens when the minimum wage increases. If we see things which are consistent with demand curves sloping downwards (people limiting their purchases of more expensive things) then we’re going to conclude that maybe there is something to Econ 101. Sure, this won’t be a proof pure and perfect, but it will be an indication.