PERSPECTIVE| FES BUCUREȘTI Minimum Wage as a Public Policy Instrument – Pros and Cons Authors: SOCOL CRISTIAN MARINAS MARIUS presents arguments in support of the need to introduce/increase the minimum wage in the countries at the periphery of the European Union(including Romania) proposes an optimum level/evolution of the minimum wage in Romania, beyond which the net impact of its implementation tends to be negative analyzes the correlation between the increase of the minimum wage and the dynamics of labor productivity in Romania presents the extent to which the increase of the minimum wage has influenced or not the economic competitiveness, particularly in sectors with high rates of minimum wage employment analyzes the correlation between the increase in the minimum wage and the mitigation of income inequalities, as well as between the increase in the minimum wage and the reduction in the poverty/economic deprivation rate