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The other day, a young lady got on the elevator and promptly whipped out her smartphone and began scrolling.

ELDER: How news aggregators reinforce political ignorance Back to video

“Excuse me,” I said, “can I ask you where you get your news?”

She said, “You mean like news about what’s going on in the world?”

This reminded me of a dinner conversation I once had with economist Thomas Sowell. We discussed the overwhelming consensus among economists that the minimum wage does more damage than good. He called the minimum wage perhaps one of the most studied topics in the field.

Sowell talked about a 1987 New York Times editorial with the headline, “The Right Minimum Wage: $0.00.” It said:

“… There’s a virtual consensus among economists that the minimum wage is an idea whose time has passed. Raising the minimum wage by a substantial amount would price working poor people out of the job market …

“An increase in the minimum wage to, say, $4.35 would restore the purchasing power of bottom-tier wages. It would also permit a minimum-wage breadwinner to........

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