The Counterintuitive Workings of the Minimum Wage

The Biden administration and House and Senate Democrats want to raise the national minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour. The result would be straightforward: higher wages, but also the closure of mom-and-pop stores; higher prices on everything from gas-station tacos to day care; a rise in unemployment, particularly among teenagers; and strain in low-wage, rural economies.

That, at least, is the argument being made by many economists, businesses, lobbying groups, and conservative politicians as the proposal comes under congressional consideration. It is an intuitive one. Democrats...