It would be interesting to see a few other things: 1. Even though it made some people better off, and others worse off, did it reduce the number of people who

It would be interesting to see a few other things: 1. Even though it made some people better off, and others worse off, did it reduce the number of people who need assistance? 2. Even if the amount of assistance is the same, if the number of people who need assistance is reduced, this would be a win. To put it another way: if some people are not getting a living wage, and raising the minimum wage doesn't help them, then the only way to help them is direct payments (and, maybe education which has to paid for). But if raising the minimum wage reduces the total number of these, it sort of "clarifies" who needs the help and who has skills that can be deployed.