The Effect of the Minimum Wage on Shareholder Wealth

David Card and Alan Krueger

No 716, Working Papers from Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section.

Abstract: This paper presents a series of event studies that measure the stock market reaction to news about the minimum wage. We use two samples of firms: a broad sample of companies in low-wage industries; and a narrow sample of firms that mentioned the cost effects of the federal minimum wage in their recent annual reports. Our analysis of legislative events leading up to the 1989 amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act shows little systematic effect on the market value of low-wage companies. We also analyze a series of events associated with a confidential memo from the Secretary of Labor that was leaked in mid-1993. Here, the stock market reactions suggest that news of a possible change in the minimum wage may have a modest effect on value of low-wage companies.

Keywords: minimum wage; event study; stock market valuation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B00 B1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1994-11
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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