When a great thinker like Scott Alexander designates the strongest argument for a policy you oppose, you should certainly pay attention:
This strikes me as the strongest argument for the minimum wage and other job-killing labor regulations: that they are turning otherwise-miserably-employed people into unemployed welfare recipients.
It’s rare, and refreshing, to read arguments for the minimum wage that acknowledge even the potential for disemployment effects, let alone acknowledge them as a feature rather than a bug. The problem with Alexander’s analysis is that, ceterus parabus, we would expect the minimum wage to disemploy workers in less miserable jobs.
Imagine an economy with two jobs for low skilled workers: elevator attendant and fry cook. Let’s assume for simplicity that demand for fry cooks and elevator attendants is roughly equal. However, since fry cooks have to slave over a hot grill rather than in an air-conditioned elevator, the supply of fry…
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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