Law360, New York ( July 17, 2014, 10:23 AM EDT) -- Justice Louis Brandeis once wrote that a "state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country." This statement has never rang more true than with the recent wave of states — and even municipalities — experimenting with increases to their particular minimum wage rates beyond the federal threshold of $7.25 per hour. Indeed, with the federal government unable to agree on any raise to the federal minimum wage, states representing over half the population of the U.S. now require minimum wage rates above the current federal minimum, and approximately 30 states are aiming to do the same. This article examines this recent trend in minimum wage increases, providing an overview of those efforts and their associated risks....