Episode 4. Minimum Wage (Price Controls)

Minimum wage requirements first passed into law after the Great Depression excluded some industries. These exclusions increased racial income inequality because black workers were concentrated at the bottom of the earnings distribution in these industries. Minimum wage laws were expanded in the mid-1960s, resulting in a reduction of this wage gap. Inequalities remain (particularly in service industries dominated by women). The federal minimum wage has remained unchanged since 2009.

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Download all of Episode 4 Curricular materials as a ZIP file. Includes: Video, research brief, lesson plan with discussion and extension questions, summary podcast, and references.

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Video

Videos show real-world case studies of applied economics research. These short and engaging videos, running approximately 5 minutes, are designed to be shown in class.

Research Brief

The research brief provides more information on scholars featured in the video and conducting related research. Summarizing the key economics concept of the episode and providing background on the experts, these research briefs are intended to be used as a student handout with the video.

Discussion and Extension Questions

The lesson plan provides brief background information on the topic to help instructors prepare before showing the video and connect it to their principles course. The activities included are scalable to classes of any size, and include a variety of discussion prompts, multiple choice and true/false questions, a supporting graph, and ideas to extend the lesson.

Episode in a Graph

Building off of the episode case study, our graph illustrates the key microeconomics lesson of price controls.

Podcast

The podcast offers a way to extend the lesson. Instructors may give students an assignment to the podcast summary and reflect: What do you note here that you did not when watching the video?

References

This list of references includes the work of experts featured in our videos and related studies cited throughout the episode and in the curriculum materials. Together, they provide the empirical foundation for the episode, drawing on both the latest academic research and the contributions of leading scholars in the field.