Even so, the impact of the minimum wage depends largely on another gang of nine: the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England.

ECONOMIST: The minimum wage

The Fed's hawkish credibility, along with cheap goods from China and other low-wage countries, has helped to keep consumer-price inflation relatively tame despite exceptionally loose monetary policy.

ECONOMIST: Reluctant party-poopers | The

But he warned that low commodity prices and unusually low wage growth may have "artificially suppressed" inflationary pressures "in which case a more dramatic tightening of monetary policy may be called for".

BBC: IMF hails world recovery