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As governments in Alberta, Ontario and B.C. plan to increase their minimum wage to $15 an hour, it’s fair to say the move has stirred up some emotions. On one side, proponents argue it’s a righteous campaign to bring fairness to exploited dishwashers and cashiers. On the other side, free-enterprise types see it as a wrongheaded crusade to force employers to pay workers more than they’re worth.

But there are differences between what a minimum wage should do, and what it can do.

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Whatever your moral arguments, below are some of the cold, hard economic findings that may squash some of the more sunny promises of a “living wage.”

When you make things more expensive, people buy less of it

Many of the Canadian governments now backing a $15 minimum wage are also supporting a carbon tax. The principle of the carbon tax, of course, is that people will buy less fossil fuels if those fuels cost more. There’s no reason to believe the same principle doesn’t apply to workers. Labour, after all, is just another input into the cost of running a business. If a law were passed that suddenly made avocados more expensive, few would be surprised if restaurants started going easier on the guacamole. When diesel prices go up, it’s expected that trucking companies will start trying to increase their fleet’s fuel efficiency. Similarly, if a worker is more expensive, it’s rational to expect that employers will be more hesitant to hire them.