Should-Read: Arindrajit Dube: Minimum wages and the distribution of family incomes in the United States: "I find robust evidence that higher minimum wages lead to increases... http://equitablegrowth.org/research-analysis/minimum-wages-and-the-distribution-of-family-incomes-in-the-us/
...in incomes among families at the bottom of the income distribution and that these wages reduce the poverty rate. A 10 percent increase in the minimum wage reduces the nonelderly poverty rate by about 5 percent. At the same time, I find evidence for some substitution of government transfers with earnings, as evidenced by the somewhat smaller income increases after accounting for tax credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and noncash transfers such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The overall increase in post-tax income is about 70 percent as large as the increase in pretax income...
