Real question: If government-mandated wages are good policy, why not set the minimum wage to $50/hr?
Why not $100/hr?
Why not $100/hr?
That much is obvious. What is in question is the effects of more realistic minimum wages like this one. Some claim that _any_ minimum wage will only result in deadweight loss, which is true in simplified models, but the effect in the real world is not so clear, hence the need for this type of research.
When government tries to set minimum wages, they often result in job losses (or foregone jobs that were never created) which, as you wrote, is known in economic circles as "deadweight loss."