Letter: Arguments for a minimum wage

Sir: The Institute for Fiscal Studies has not "published a report hostile to the minimum wage" (Letters, 16 December). The article to which Mr Corry refers recognises and describes the wide range of possible arguments in favour of a minimum wage and evaluates one of them at length, namely that it might be a good way to redistribute income from the rich to the poor. This is shown not to be the case; most of the poorest households have no members in employment. However, as the article makes clear, the fact that bad arguments exist for a policy does not imply that the policy itself is bad, merely that other arguments are needed to support it.

AMANDA GOSLING

Institute for Fiscal Studies

London WC1