Shadduck 1

Grant Shadduck

Professor Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1104

2-13-17

Topic Proposal: More Money, More Power?

Introduction/Overview

I will be examining the affect that raising the federal minimum wage would have on the

economy, low-wage workers and low-wage employers.

In 2016, the topic of minimum wage seemed to be mentioned in every presidential debate. Per

usual, neither side could agree on what to do. One side pushed heavily to raise the minimum

wage upwards of $15. The opposing side argued that raising the minimum wage would simply

add to the nations unemployment. Even economists argue about the effects. For example, Jeff

Clemons, an assistant professor of economics at the University of California, San Diego

concludes, I'm willing to take the stand that the full set of minimum wage increases enacted

over this period is responsible for a decline of around 1 million jobs across these particularly

low-skilled worker groups.

I have done a lot of research based on news articles, as well as opinion editorials from

economists. Knowing that there is typically a bias in news, I am trying to compensate for that

bias by finding articles that argue both sides.

This topic is highly complex because of its relationships with both economics and

politics. As stated previously, the two sides typically fall along the political spectrum. For

example, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders heavily supported raising the minimum age during

their campaigns. There are economists like Jeff Fisher who argue that it causes job loss and hurts
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the economy. On the other side, there are those who have put out studies saying that raising the

minimum wage would benefit jobs rather than hurt them. The New York Times says that a

comprehensive study found that minimum wage increases resulted in strong earnings

effects that is, higher pay and no employment effects that is, zero job loss.

Initial Inquiry Question(s)

There were numerous questions that came to my mind while researching. Some of these

questions seemed a little too specific to limit myself to. For example, Will raising minimum

wage lead companies to further integrate technology, replacing jobs? While there are examples

for both sides, I believe that this would limit my ability to include multiple views and reasons.

This leads me to create a more generalized initial inquiry question. Widening my question will

allow me to combine multiple arguments to finalize a decision. My initial inquiry question is as

follows, Will raising the minimum wage help or hurt the United States economy? This will

allow me to include topics such as employment rates, technology integration and others.

My Interest in this Topic

As a teenager, the minimum wage directly affects me. As I look to join the workforce this

summer, I will most likely work for minimum wage or close to it. If true, the argument that

raising minimum wage is hurtful for the economy, leads me to believe that it will likely hurt my

generations ability to find first jobs. Personally, I am very interested in both politics as well as

US economy. No matter your political affiliations, this past election was one for the ages. The

daily jabs from both sides and constant media coverage intrigued me. Knowing that this was the
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first election I would be allowed to vote in, I felt a responsibility to do my research before

heading to the polls. In doing so, I became enthralled in politics and the arguments from

opposing sides of the spectrum. As for my interest in the economy, lets just say I read textbooks

about the fundamentals of investing in my free time. I do not think it is hard to realize the

impact the economy has on our daily life. That being said, I believe that this topic pulls both of

those interests into one argument.

With the research, I have already done in addition to what I knew previously. I know that

there are strong political ties with both sides of the argument. Knowing that, that leads to biased

news coverage. To try and prevent bias in my work, I will try to find evidence and articles that

support both sides. I hope to be able to successfully present the evidence to my readers without a

skew in my work.

Next Steps

Looking forwards, I plan to focus on using the librarys databases, such as CQ researcher.

I think that these databases will help lead me to more statistical analyses. I will continue to use

websites and sources such as The New York Times, Business Insider, NPR, CNBC, etc. As

mentioned previously, I hope to successfully present non-biased evidence to my audience,

allowing them to evaluate their current opinions on the topic.