A minimum wage can be welfare-improving and employment-enhancing

We examine whether minimum wages can fulfill a useful role as part of an optimal tax-transfer scheme. The government cannot observe household abilities, only their incomes, and is constrained to ensure that those working are at least as well-off as those not working. A minimum wage combined with the institutional features of typical welfare systems allows the incentive constraint to be severed at the ability level associated with the minimum wage. If such a scheme can be enforced, the government can increase the amount of redistribution from those working to those not working, and possibly lower the number of unemployed.