Canadian Politics Today

Supply and demand is not simple A then B. Prices have elasticity and there's myriad macroeconomic factors that go into things as well. It's not just a matter of wages go up, prices go up. This is a problem of having just enough knowledge to know something about economics, but not enough knowledge to account for all the other things.

I'm well aware of price elasticity, thanks. I spent a lot of time desperately trying to keep my enormously heavy eyelids apart while reading some of the thickest and most boring economics books imaginable. However, most of the jobs for minimum wage people, especially for services like coffee shops, are highly elastic. It's not like paying the rent. You can choose not to have as many coffees or donuts if the price gets higher. You can choose not to go out to restaurants. You can dry clean less. And in terms of manufacturing, the requirement to race prices is definitely going to lower demand where it's in competition with lower wage manufacturers elsewhere in Canada, North America or the world.