George Bernard Shaw, the famed Irish playwright, once said if all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion. Well yesterday the Economic Policy Institute released a statement endorsed by over 650 economists (in this case they did raise a conclusion), including 5 Nobel laureates and 6 former American Economics Association presidents, the statement asserts that a modest raise (from $1.00 to $2.50 per hour) in the minimum wage at both the state and federal level, with future increases indexed to protect the workers' purchasing power, "can significantly improve the lives of low-income workers and their families, without the adverse effects that critics have claimed."

Ohio voters will get a chance to reach their own conclusion and to raise the state minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.85 an hour on November 7 when they consider State Issue 2. You can learn more about the campaign to raise the minimum wage here.