Very misleading title, economists absolutely do not agree on this point, just read the responses to Card/Kreuger. My view after taking all of this in: there are

Very misleading title, economists absolutely do not agree on this point, just read the responses to Card/Kreuger. My view after taking all of this in: there are valid theoretical models that both support and disagree with the view that the minimum wage reduces poverty, and so far the statistics are not clear either way. Given that we don't know, why not support more effective policies for combating poverty such as the negative income tax (Milton Friedman was a proponent of this), or even unconditional income? Those policies would be such a win-win in terms of both reducing poverty and reducing the costly bureaucracy surrounding welfare programs, but unfortunately they don't seem to be politically viable yet.