Minimum Wages, Employment, and the “Harmony of Illusions”

Abstract

In contrast to Thomas Kuhn’s theory of scientific revolutions, the economic discipline appears to progress in a piecemeal, path dependent way continuously being dominated by the same paradigm. Instead of paradigmatic shifts, the history of economic thought is characterized by considerable paradigmatic resilience. Drawing on the philosophy of science of Ludwik Fleck, this article demonstrates the basis of this resilience, as well as potential dangers to which it gives rise, and—while giving special consideration to research on the employment impact of minimum wages recently introduced in Germany—examines whether a necessary “thought style compulsion” may eventually turn into a “harmony of illusions.”