Short paper # 1 is due at the end of Week # 2 (9 pm, with a grace period until 11:59 pm). Papers submitted after 9 pm and up to and including 11:59 pm on the due date are late but NOT penalized. Any paper submitted after the grace period is late and penalized at the rate of one letter grade per day late (or any portion thereof). Blackboard is the official time keeper. After 3 days, any paper not submitted is graded as zero. The paper must use at least three disciplinary sources but not necessarily peer-reviewed sources. Students may use their textbook as a source, but it will NOT count as one of the three required sources. Short paper # 1 must include graphs, a works cited page, have proper APA format throughout the paper, and must be the equivalent of 4 pages of APA properly formatted writing. The paper will automatically be evaluated for originality by Blackboard SafeAssign. You might find it helpful to review the Prof Battista's handout "Writing in Economics using APA and Visual Aids: Some Helpful Hints." Students may find the textbook helpful in applying concepts from their knowledge of chapter 3 (supply and demand, consumer surplus, producer surplus and deadweight loss, price floors), chapter 4 (labor markets), and chapter 5 (elasticity of demand, determinants of elasticity, price floors) Short paper # 1 is worth 100 points and assesses Pathways SLO's 1-5, and Gateway LO's A-D. The Minimum Wage has existed as a legal entity in the United States for almost 80 years. There is a thorough and passionate debate about the impacts the minimum wage has on employers, employees, compensation, costs, unemployment, and efficiency, to name just a few. Noting what has been mentioned above, write a paper in which you explore the economic benefits and economic costs (the "pros and cons") of the minimum wage in the USA. As always, it is not an option to opt out and say there are no benefits or there are no costs - your job is to explore the issues.