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This paper examines how closely the minimum wage has been set to the most popularly stated goals of minimun‐wage policy. I first estimate these goals: the minimum‐wage rate at which the relevant labor demand is unitary elastic‐maximizing the total earnings of minimum‐wage workers (about $5.35)‐and the level that would lift a typical minimum‐wage worker's family out of poverty (about $5.17). I can reject that the actual minimum‐wage policy has been driven by desire to achieve these goals and find that a simple interest group model best explains the historical path of the minimum‐wage rate.