The minimum wage and cross-community crime disparities

Li Li () and Haoming Liu
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Li Li: East China Normal University

Journal of Population Economics, 2024, vol. 37, issue 2, No 9, 37 pages

Abstract: Abstract This study examines the heterogeneous impacts of minimum wages, which could affect low-income workers’ earnings and employment opportunities, on crime rates across neighboring communities. Using geo-tagged reported crime incident data from 18 major U.S. cities, we find that minimum wage increases reduce violent crime rates notably more in low-income communities than in high-income ones. On average, a one-dollar real minimum wage increase narrows the disparity in quarterly violent crime rates between low- and high-income communities by 12%. The impact varies considerably across different types of cities. The income effect resulting from raising the minimum wage is the main contributing factor.

Keywords: Minimum wage; Crime; Inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I38 J31 J38 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s00148-024-01023-w

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