AfewdaysagoWalmart,America’slargestemployer,announcedthatitwillraisewagesforhalfamillionworkers.Formanyofthoseworkersthegainswillbesmall,buttheannouncementisnonethelessaverybigdeal,fortworeasons.First,therewillbespillovers:Walmartissobigthatitsactionwillprobablyleadtoraisesformillionsofworkersemployedbyothercompanies.Second,andarguablyfarmoreimportant,iswhatWalmart’smovetellsus—namely,thatlowwagesareapoliticalchoice,andwecanandshouldchoosedifferently.几天前，美国最大的雇主沃尔玛(Walmart)宣布将为50万名员工加薪。对其中许多员工来说，涨幅是很小的，但并不妨碍此事的重要性，原因有两个。首先是会有溢出效应：以沃尔玛的规模之大，这一举动可能引致数以百万计的其他公司员工得到加薪。第二点，应该说也是更为重要的一点，沃尔玛的举动在告诉我们，低薪是一个政治选择，我们可以，也应该做出别的选择。Somebackground:Conservatives—withthebacking,Ihavetoadmit,ofmanyeconomists—normallyarguethatthemarketforlaborislikethemarketforanythingelse.Thelawofsupplyanddemand,theysay,determinesthelevelofwages,andtheinvisiblehandofthemarketwillpunishanyonewhotriestodefythisla提供一些背景：保守派——不得不承认，他们的背后有一些经济学家的支持——通常会说，劳动力市场跟任何其他东西的市场是一样的。他们说，供求法则决定薪资水平，任何人要想违背这一法则，都会遭到市场无形之手的惩罚。Specifically,thisviewimpliesthatanyattempttopushupwageswilleitherfailorhavebadconsequences.Settingaminimumwage,it’sclaimed,willreduceemploymentandcreatealaborsurplus,thesamewayattemptstoputfloorsunderthepricesofagriculturalcommoditiesusedtoleadtobuttermountains,winelakesandsoon.Pressuringemployerstopaymore,orencouragingworkerstoorganizeintounions,willhavethesameeffect.这种观念尤其在暗示，任何推高工资的企图都是徒劳的，或者会有糟糕的后果。它认为设定最低工资会减少就业，造成劳动力过剩，就好比给农产品设定价格下限曾经导致黄油成山、红酒成湖等等。强迫雇主增加工资，或鼓励工人组成工会，也会有同样的效果。ButlaboreconomistshavelongquestionedthisvieSoylentGreen—Imean,thelaborforce—ispeople.Andbecauseworkersarepeople,wagesarenot,infact,likethepriceofbutter,andhowmuchworkersarepaiddependsasmuchonsocialforcesandpoliticalpowerasitdoesonsimplesupplyanddemand.但劳动经济学家对这种看法一直存在质疑。大扁豆绿饼（SoylentGreen，同名电影中用死人制成的一种食物。——译注）——我的意思是，劳动力——是人。由于工人是人，工资实际上和黄油的价格不是一回事，工人的薪水多寡，取决于简单的供求关系，同样也取决于社会中的力量和政治权力。What’stheevidence?First,thereiswhatactuallyhappenswhenminimumwagesareincreased.Manystatessetminimumwagesabovethefederallevel,andwecanlookatwhathappenswhenastateraisesitsminimumwhileneighboringstatesdonot.Doesthewage-hikingstatelosealargenumberofjobs?No—theoverwhelmingconclusionfromstudyingthesenaturalexperimentsisthatmoderateincreasesintheminimumwagehavelittleornonegativeeffectonemployment.有什么证据？首先，看看提高最低工资标准后实际会怎样。许多州的最低工资是高于联邦水平的，我们可以比较一下，当一个州提高最低工资，毗邻的州不提时会出现什么情况。加薪州会失去大量就业机会吗？不会——通过研究这些自然实验可以得出毋庸置疑的结论，最低工资的适度提高对就业的负面影响微乎其微。Thenthere’shistory.Itturnsoutthatthemiddle-classsocietyweusedtohavedidn’tevolveasaresultofimpersonalmarketforces—itwascreatedbypoliticalaction,andinabriefperiodoftime.Americawasstillaveryunequalsocietyin1940,butby1950ithadbeentransformedbyadramaticreductioninincomedisparities,which...