The Political Economy of the Living Wage: A Study of Four Cities: A Study of Four Cities

Living wage campaigns are often presented as a quest for a measure of economic justice. Generally in response to rising income inequality, the failure of the federal minimum wage to keep pace with inflation and the cost of living, and the tendency in recent years for municipalities to contract out for services, the living wage is considered to be a measure intended to assist those at the bottom of the income distribution. Often missed, however, is that the living wage is very much a political issue at the local level, and that the typical living wage campaign needs to be understood within the context of urban theory. The campaigns are very much part of the politics of economic development.

Oren M. Levin-Waldman is Professor in the Graduate School for Public Affairs and Administration at Metropolitan College of New York