Minimum Wages and the Distribution of Family Incomes

Arindrajit Dube

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2019, vol. 11, issue 4, 268-304

Abstract: There is robust evidence that higher minimum wages increase family incomes at the bottom of the distribution. The long-run (3 or more years) minimum wage elasticity of the non-elderly poverty rate with respect to the minimum wage ranges between −0.220 and −0.459 across alternative specifications. The long-run minimum wage elasticities for the tenth and fifteenth unconditional quantiles of family income range between 0.152 and 0.430 depending on specification. A reduction in public assistance partly offsets these income gains, which are on average 66 percent as large when using an expanded income definition including tax credits and noncash transfers.

JEL-codes: D31 I32 I38 J31 J38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
Note: DOI: 10.1257/app.20170085
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (66)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Minimum Wages and the Distribution of Family Incomes (2018)
Working Paper: Minimum Wages and the Distribution of Family Incomes (2017)
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