TL;DR; You can raise minimum wage quite a bit, but prices only go up a tiny bit.
Primary drivers of price increases continues to be real estate rents and administrative overhead.
Also unending growth and profit seeking, becsuse there is nothing capitalism loathes more than a stable business that isn’t trying to dominate the market.
I think you forgot pure, unmitigated price gouging.
Record breaking profits during 40 year inflation. It’s glaringly obvious.
The study’s findings: Wages increased by 18%, employment numbers remained stable, and menu prices increased by only 3.7% — the equivalent of a 15-cent increase on a $4 burger. The $20 hourly wage floor represents an increase of $4 per hour from the statewide minimum wage of $16 in California
menu prices increased by only 3.7%
Worth noting this is a “difference-in-differences” study, so that change is estimating the impact of the policy alone. Folk’s observed changes will be a bit higher because they are also affected by national changes.
Prices have gone up almost 4% since April so far. Businesses stagger their price increases so they don’t immediately alienate customers. Boiling frog and all that. The prices will likely rise the remainder of the difference over the next year.
