Here's the description followed by the cited sources:

The Minimum Wage Paradox: Is it Really a Cure for Poverty?

Step into the complex and fiercely debated world of the minimum wage, moving far beyond the basic economics assumption that higher pay automatically leads to fewer jobs. This podcast explores the real-world ripple effects of wage floors, revealing how an increase doesn't just impact the lowest earners, but actually boosts the wages of millions of workers across the broader economy.

Through data and real-world case studies, we examine how businesses truly absorb these higher labor costs. You will learn how independent businesses often adapt through price increases and productivity gains rather than mass layoffs, and how rising wages are simultaneously accelerating the push toward automation and industrial robots in sectors like fast food.

Finally, the series unpacks the stark trade-offs of these policies. We analyze whether minimum wage hikes are a genuine cure for poverty and inequality, or a blunt instrument that risks shutting vulnerable populations—such as young, unskilled, and female workers—out of the labor market entirely. Whether you are a business owner, a policymaker, or an everyday consumer, this podcast breaks down the paradoxes, the empirical data, and the human impact behind the minimum wage debate.

Sources

• The Very Idea of Applying Economics
• Minimum Wage: Theoretical and Empirical Debates
• Effects of the Minimum Wage on Employment Dynamics
• Minimum Wage and Unemployment: An Empirical Study on OECD Countries
• The Importance of Study Design in the Minimum-Wage Debate
• Impacts of Minimum Wages: Review of the International Evidence — UK Government
• The Minimum Wage Is a Poverty Wage — Center for American Progress
• Equity Implications of the Unchanged Federal Minimum Wage since 2009 — RISE
• The Hamilton Project: Ripple Effect Analysis — Brookings Institution
• The Effect of the Minimum Wage on Prices
• The Pass-Through of Minimum Wages into US Retail Prices
• The Impact of the Minimum Wage on Independent Businesses
• Small, Medium-Sized Independent U.S. Firms Adapted Well to Minimum Wage Increases
• Minimum-Wage Increases and Low-Wage Employment: Evidence from Seattle
• California $20 Fast Food Minimum Wage — Case Study Analysis
• IZA World of Labour: Minimum Wage and Youth Employment
• Pathways to Progress & Navigating Opportunity
• The Local Aggregate Effects of Minimum Wage Increases — Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
• What Happens When the Minimum Wage Rises? It Depends on Monetary Policy — Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
• Minimum Wage and Employment: Sectoral and Regional Perspectives — IMF Working Paper
• National Employment Law Project (NELP) — Corporate Profit and Low-Wage Worker Reports
• Economic Policy Institute — Federal Minimum Wage Policy Documents