IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/lev/wrkpap/wp_256.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Minimum Wage in Historical Perspective: Progressive Reformers and the Constitutional Jurisprudence of 'Liberty of Contract

Author

Listed:
  • Oren M. Levin-Waldman

Abstract

During the Progressive period of American history the debate over the minimum wage was often between those who clung to traditional economic theory as a reason for not having a minimum wage and those who saw the efficiency-wage benefits of adopting one. Although the latter argument proved quite effective in swaying many state legislatures, it may have also been a strategic argument for circumventing the Supreme Court's particular understanding of "liberty of contract." Under this doctrine, states could not pass any legislation mandating a minimum wage unless a compelling case could be made that such a wage would definitely serve the larger public interest. This paper argues that although efficiency-wage arguments might have been appealing to liberal reformers of that time, the arguments were ultimately used as a disingenuous means by which "liberty of contract" arguments could be circumvented.

Suggested Citation

  • Oren M. Levin-Waldman, 1998. "The Minimum Wage in Historical Perspective: Progressive Reformers and the Constitutional Jurisprudence of 'Liberty of Contract," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_256, Levy Economics Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_256
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/wp256.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Prasch, Robert E., 1998. "American Economists and Minimum Wage Legislation During the Progressive Era: 1912–1923," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(2), pages 161-175, June.
    2. Sidney Webb, 1912. "The Economic Theory of a Legal Minimum Wage," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(10), pages 973-973.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thomas C. Leonard, 2005. "Protecting Family and Race," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(3), pages 757-791, July.
    2. Michael Reich, 2015. "The Ups and Downs of Minimum Wage Policy: The Fair Labor Standards Act in Historical Perspective," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 538-546, October.
    3. Oren M. Levin-Waldman, "undated". "Automatic Adjustment of the Minimum Wage, Linking the Minimum Wage to Productivity," Economics Public Policy Brief Archive ppb_42, Levy Economics Institute.
    4. Bruce E. Kaufman, 2009. "Promoting Labour Market Efficiency and Fairness through a Legal Minimum Wage: The Webbs and the Social Cost of Labour," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 47(2), pages 306-326, June.
    5. Seltzer, Andrew, 2024. "The Political Economy of Minimum Wage Setting: The Factories and Shops Act of Victoria (Australia), 1896-1913," IZA Discussion Papers 16788, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Andrew Seltzer & Martin Shanahan & Claire Wright, 2022. "The Rise and Fall and Rise (?) of Economic History in Australia," CEH Discussion Papers 05, Centre for Economic History, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    7. Roy E. Bailey & Timothy J. Hatton & Kris Inwood, 2016. "Atmospheric Pollution and Child Health in Late Nineteenth Century Britain," CEH Discussion Papers 052, Centre for Economic History, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    8. Bruce E. Kaufman, 2016. "Adam Smith’s Economics and the Modern Minimum Wage Debate:The Large Distance Separating Kirkcaldy from Chicago," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 29-52, March.
    9. Oren M. Levin-Waldman, 1998. "Linking the Minimum Wage to Productivity," Macroeconomics 9802015, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Kathryn L. Clark & R. Vincent Pohl & Ryan C. Thomas, 2020. "Minimum Wages And Healthy Diet," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 38(3), pages 546-560, July.
    11. Price V. Fishback & Andrew J. Seltzer, 2021. "The Rise of American Minimum Wages, 1912–1968," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 73-96, Winter.
    12. Thomas C. Leonard, 2005. "Retrospectives: Eugenics and Economics in the Progressive Era," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(4), pages 207-224, Fall.
    13. Oren M. Levin-Waldman, 1997. "Linking the Minimum Wage to Productivity," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_219, Levy Economics Institute.
    14. George Economides & Thomas Moutos, 2014. "Minimum Wages as a Redistributive Device in the Long Run," CESifo Working Paper Series 5052, CESifo.
    15. Economides, George & Moutos, Thomas, 2017. "Minimum wages in the presence of in-kind redistribution," CEPIE Working Papers 08/17, Technische Universität Dresden, Center of Public and International Economics (CEPIE).
    16. Arindrajit Dube & Attila S. Lindner, 2024. "Minimum Wages in the 21st Century," NBER Working Papers 32878, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Lavoie, M. & Stockhammer, Engelbert,, 2012. "Wage-led growth : concepts, theories and policies," ILO Working Papers 994709363402676, International Labour Organization.
    18. Thorsten Schulten & Torsten Müller, 2019. "What’s in a name? From minimum wages to living wages in Europe," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 25(3), pages 267-284, August.
    19. Andrew J. Seltzer, 2024. "The Political Economy of Minimum Wage Setting: The Factories and Shops Act of Victoria (Australia), 1896-1913," CEH Discussion Papers 02, Centre for Economic History, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    20. Oren M. Levin-Waldman, 1999. "The Rhetorical Evolution of the Minimum Wage," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_280, Levy Economics Institute.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_256. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Elizabeth Dunn (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.levyinstitute.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.