Here’s a link to a study of Congressmen and their votes on minimum wage law increases based upon whether they have studied economics. Most every economist agrees that minimum wage laws tend to increase unemployment and so are well-meaning but somewhat misguided ways to try to address problems of low wages. Here’s a summary of the study from Cato:

The evidence is presented in a recent paper in the academic journal Public Choice. The paper examines the 2007 vote to raise the minimum wage. After controlling for a variety of factors, the “study finds that members who majored in economics as undergraduates were less likely to vote for the minimum wage increase than their colleagues.” Again this controls for party and others factors that might also influence a Representative’s decision. As you probably recall, the vote in question did pass. So while I’m not suggesting that a few more economists in Congress would solve all our problems, it might actually help.

Meanwhile I’ll just keep teaching economics as best I can. Maybe some of my students can end up in Congress.