Commentary on Bassier and Ranchhod, 'Can Minimum Wages Effectively Reduce Poverty Under Low Compliance? A Case Study from the Agricultural Sector in South Africa'.

The article discusses the challenges and potential benefits of interdisciplinary dialogue between anthropologists and economists. It reflects on a seminar where anthropologists and economists attempted to bridge the gap between their disciplines and highlights the difficulties in understanding each other's language and concepts. The article then focuses on a specific paper presented at the seminar, which examines the impact of a minimum wage increase on poverty reduction in the agricultural sector in South Africa. The paper finds that the wage increase led to significant increases in wages and household incomes, as well as a decline in poverty, challenging the belief that minimum wage increases result in job losses and increased poverty. The authors attribute the success of the wage increase to alternative enforcement mechanisms and the expectations of workers. The article concludes by suggesting that ethnographic research and anthropological perspectives can contribute to economics research and vice versa, emphasizing the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration. [Extracted from the article]