Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/aue/wpaper/1801.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Minimum Wage Effects on Poverty and Inequality

Author

Listed:
  • Alexandros Karakitsios

    (Athens University of Economics and Business)

  • Manos Matsaganis

    (Athens University of Economics and Business)

Abstract
Minimum wage effect on employment is one of the mostly studied fields in labour economics. Minimum wage is also considered as a redistributive tool but its efficiency is strongly doubted due to potential disemployment effect that may cause. In the present paper, redistributive ability of minimum wage is studied through microsimulation techniques and under several scenarios of employment elasticity. The results indicate that minimum wage can reduce poverty even under the presence of a disemployment effect. Though, this anti-poverty effect is limited as employment elasticity is more negative. Similarly, inequality decreases when minimum wage increases are adopted, but the redistributive effect is weaker when they cause job losses. The above indicate that minimum wage policies should be used with caution and always take into account any possible impact on employment.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexandros Karakitsios & Manos Matsaganis, 2018. "Minimum Wage Effects on Poverty and Inequality," DEOS Working Papers 1801, Athens University of Economics and Business.
    • Handle: RePEc:aue:wpaper:1801
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://wpa.deos.aueb.gr/docs/Minimum.Wage.Effects.on.Poverty.and.Inequality.pdf
    File Function: First version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arindrajit Dube, 2019. "Minimum Wages and the Distribution of Family Incomes," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(4), pages 268-304, October.
    2. Adams, Scott & Neumark, David, 2005. "The effects of living wage laws: Evidence from failed and derailed living wage campaigns," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 177-202, September.
    3. Teulings, Coen N, 2000. "Aggregation Bias in Elasticities of Substitution and the Minimum Wage Paradox," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 41(2), pages 359-398, May.
    4. DiNardo, John & Fortin, Nicole M & Lemieux, Thomas, 1996. "Labor Market Institutions and the Distribution of Wages, 1973-1992: A Semiparametric Approach," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(5), pages 1001-1044, September.
    5. David Neumark & William Wascher, 2002. "Do Minimum Wages Fight Poverty?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(3), pages 315-333, July.
    6. Juan J. Dolado & Florentino Felgueroso & Juan F. Jimeno, 2000. "The Role of the Minimum Wage in the Welfare State: An Appraisal," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 136(III), pages 223-245, September.
    7. Tim Goedemé & Tess Penne & Tine Hufkens & Alexandros Karakitsios & Anikó Bernát & Bori Simonovits & Elena Carillo Alvarez & Eleni Kanavitsa & Irene Cussó Parcerisas & Jordi Riera Romaní & Lauri Mäkine, 2017. "What Does It Mean To Live on the Poverty Threshold? Lessons From Reference Budgets," Working Papers 1707, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    8. Lonnie Stevans & David Sessions, 2001. "Minimum Wage Policy and Poverty in the United States," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(1), pages 65-75.
    9. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2101-2163 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Manos Matsaganis & Chrysa Leventi, 2013. "The Distributional Impact of the Greek Crisis in 2010," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 34(1), pages 83-108, March.
    11. Lee, David & Saez, Emmanuel, 2012. "Optimal minimum wage policy in competitive labor markets," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(9-10), pages 739-749.
    12. David Neumark & Mark Schweitzer & William Wascher, 2005. "The Effects of Minimum Wages on the Distribution of Family Incomes: A Nonparametric Analysis," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 40(4), pages 867-894.
    13. Andrew Leigh, 2007. "Does Raising the Minimum Wage Help the Poor?," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 83(263), pages 432-445, December.
    14. Leventi, Chrysa & Paulus, Alari & Matsaganis, Manos & Sutherland, Holly & Callan, Tim & Levy, Horacio, 2011. "The distributional effects of austerity measures: a comparison of six EU countries," EUROMOD Working Papers EM6/11, EUROMOD at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    15. David Neumark, 2009. "Alternative Labor Market Policies to Increase Economic Self-Sufficiency: Mandating Higher Wages, Subsidizing Employment, and Increasing Productivity," NBER Working Papers 14807, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Müller, Kai-Uwe & Steiner, Viktor, 2008. "Would a Legal Minimum Wage Reduce Poverty? A Microsimulation Study for Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 3491, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Addison, John T. & Blackburn, McKinley L. & Cotti, Chad D., 2013. "Minimum wage increases in a recessionary environment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 30-39.
    18. Tony Addison & Giovanni Andrea Cornia, 2001. "Income Distribution Policies for Faster Poverty Reduction," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2001-93, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    19. Coen N. Teulings, 2003. "The contribution of minimum wages to increasing wage inequality," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(490), pages 801-833, October.
    20. Sara Lemos, 2004. "Minimum Wage Policy and Employment Effects: Evidence from Brazil," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Fall 2004), pages 219-266, August.
    21. Megan Linde Leonard & T. D. Stanley & Hristos Doucouliagos, 2014. "Does the UK Minimum Wage Reduce Employment? A Meta-Regression Analysis," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 52(3), pages 499-520, September.
    22. Pablo Fajnzylber, 2001. "Minimum Wage Effects Throughout the Wage Distribution: Evidence from Brazil's Formal and Informal Sectors," Anais do XXIX Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 29th Brazilian Economics Meeting] 098, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    23. Neumark, David & Wascher, William, 2001. "Using the EITC to Help Poor Families: New Evidence and a Comparison With the Minimum Wage," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 54(2), pages 281-318, June.
    24. Bird, Kelly & Manning, Chris, 2008. "Minimum Wages and Poverty in a Developing Country: Simulations from Indonesia's Household Survey," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 916-933, May.
    25. Richard Dickens & Alan Manning, 2004. "Has the national minimum wage reduced UK wage inequality?," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 167(4), pages 613-626, November.
    26. Edward M. Gramlich, 1976. "Impact of Minimum Wages on Other Wages, Employment, and Family Incomes," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 7(2), pages 409-462.
    27. Brown, Charles, 1999. "Minimum wages, employment, and the distribution of income," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 32, pages 2101-2163, Elsevier.
    28. Neumark, David & Salas, J.M. Ian & Wascher, William, 2013. "Revisiting the Minimum Wage-Employment Debate: Throwing Out the Baby with the Bathwater?," IZA Discussion Papers 7166, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    29. Bernhard Boockmann, 2010. "The Combined Employment Effects of Minimum Wages and Labor Market Regulation—a Meta-Analysis," Applied Economics Quarterly (formerly: Konjunkturpolitik), Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 61(Supplemen), pages 167-188.
    30. André Blais & Jean-Michel Cousineau & Kenneth McRoberts, 1989. "The determinants of minimum wage rates," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 62(1), pages 15-24, July.
    31. David H. Autor & Alan Manning & Christopher L. Smith, 2016. "The Contribution of the Minimum Wage to US Wage Inequality over Three Decades: A Reassessment," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 8(1), pages 58-99, January.
    32. Neumark, David & Cunningham, Wendy & Siga, Lucas, 2006. "The effects of the minimum wage in Brazil on the distribution of family incomes: 1996-2001," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 136-159, June.
    33. Richard V. Burkhauser & Joseph J. Sabia, 2007. "The Effectiveness Of Minimum‐Wage Increases In Reducing Poverty: Past, Present, And Future," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 25(2), pages 262-281, April.
    34. Chletsos, Michael & Giotis, Georgios P., 2015. "The employment effect of minimum wage using 77 international studies since 1992: A meta-analysis," MPRA Paper 61321, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    35. Kai-Uwe Müller & Viktor Steiner, 2008. "Would a Legal Minimum Wage Reduce Poverty?: A Microsimulation Study for Germany," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 791, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    36. Hristos Doucouliagos & T. D. Stanley, 2009. "Publication Selection Bias in Minimum‐Wage Research? A Meta‐Regression Analysis," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 47(2), pages 406-428, June.
    37. Amanda Gosling, 1996. "Minimum wages: possible effects on the distribution of income," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 17(4), pages 31-48, November.
    38. Bea Cantillon & Diego Collado & Natascha Van Mechelen, 2015. "The end of decent social protection for the poor? The dynamics of low wages, minimum income packages and median household incomes," ImPRovE Working Papers 15/03, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    39. Freeman, Richard B, 1996. "The Minimum Wage as a Redistributive Tool," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(436), pages 639-649, May.
    40. Bea Cantillon, 2011. "The Paradox of the Social Investment State. Growth, Employment and Poverty in the Lisbon Era," Working Papers 1103, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    41. Joseph J. Sabia & Richard V. Burkhauser, 2010. "Minimum Wages and Poverty: Will a $9.50 Federal Minimum Wage Really Help the Working Poor?," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 76(3), pages 592-623, January.
    42. David Neumark & Scott Adams, 2003. "Do Living Wage Ordinances Reduce Urban Poverty?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 38(3).
    43. Tito Boeri & Pietro Garibaldi & Marta Ribeiro, 2011. "The Lighthouse Effect And Beyond," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 57, pages 54-78, May.
    44. Miguel N. Foguel & Lauro Ramos & Francisco Carneiro, 2015. "the Impacts of the Minimum Wage on the Labor Market, Poverty and Fiscal Budget in Brazil," Discussion Papers 0108, Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada - IPEA.
    45. Dale Belman & Paul Wolfson & Kritkorn Nawakitphaitoon, 2015. "Who Is Affected by the Minimum Wage?," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 582-621, October.
    46. Shanthi Nataraj & Francisco Perez-Arce & Krishna B. Kumar & Sinduja V. Srinivasan, 2014. "The Impact Of Labor Market Regulation On Employment In Low-Income Countries: A Meta-Analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 551-572, July.
    47. Rebecca M. Blank, 2000. "Distinguished Lecture on Economics in Government: Fighting Poverty: Lessons from Recent U.S. History," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(2), pages 3-19, Spring.
    48. Joseph J. Sabia, 2008. "Minimum wages and the economic well-being of single mothers," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(4), pages 848-866.
    49. Russell S. Sobel, 1999. "Theory and Evidence on the Political Economy of the Minimum Wage," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(4), pages 761-785, August.
    50. Bea Cantillon & Diego Collado & Natascha Van Mechelen, 2015. "The end of decent social protection for the poor? The dynamics of low wages, minimum income packages and median household incomes," Working Papers 1501, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    51. Dale Belman & Paul J. Wolfson, 2014. "What Does the Minimum Wage Do?," Books from Upjohn Press, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, number wdmwd, December.
    52. David S. Lee, 1999. "Wage Inequality in the United States During the 1980s: Rising Dispersion or Falling Minimum Wage?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(3), pages 977-1023.
    53. William Wascher & David Neumark, 2000. "Minimum Wages and Employment: A Case Study of the Fast-Food Industry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(5), pages 1362-1396, December.
    54. Immervoll, Herwig & Pearson, Mark, 2009. "A Good Time for Making Work Pay? Taking Stock of In-Work Benefits and Related Measures across the OECD," IZA Policy Papers 3, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    55. John Schmitt, 2013. "Why Does the Minimum Wage Have No Discernible Effect on Employment?," CEPR Reports and Issue Briefs 2013-04, Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).
    56. Sutherland, H., 2001. "The National Minimum Wage and In-work Poverty," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0111, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    57. Michail Veliziotis & Manos Matsaganis & Alexandros Karakitsios, 2015. "Involuntary part-time employment: perspectives from two European labour markets," ImPRovE Working Papers 15/02, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    58. Gindling, T.H. & Terrell, Katherine, 2010. "Minimum Wages, Globalization, and Poverty in Honduras," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 908-918, June.
    59. Saint-Paul, Gilles, 2000. "The Political Economy of Labour Market Institutions," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198293323.
    60. Diego F. Angel‐Urdinola & Quentin Wodon, 2004. "The Impact on Inequality of Raising the Minimum Wage: Gap‐narrowing and Reranking Effects," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 18(2), pages 317-327, June.
    61. Stephen Devereux, 2005. "Can minimum wages contribute to poverty reduction in poor countries?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(7), pages 899-912.
    62. Pablo Fajnzylber, 2001. "Minimum wage effects throughout the wage distribution: evidence from Brazil’s formal and informal sectors," Textos para Discussão Cedeplar-UFMG td151, Cedeplar, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.
    63. Brown, Charles, 1988. "Minimum Wage Laws: Are They Overrated?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 2(3), pages 133-145, Summer.
    64. R. V. Burkhauser & K. A. Couch & A. J. Glenn, "undated". "Public policies for the working poor: The earned income tax credit versus minimum wage legislation," Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Papers 1074-95, University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty.
    65. Catherine SAGET, 2001. "Poverty reduction and decent work in developing countries: Do minimum wages help?," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 140(3), pages 237-269, September.
    66. András Gábos & Réka Branyiczki & Barbara Lange & György Tóth, 2015. "Employment and poverty dynamics in the EU countries before, during and after the crisis," ImPRovE Working Papers 15/06, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Backhaus, Teresa & Müller, Kai-Uwe, 2019. "Does the German minimum wage benefit low income households?," VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Democracy and Market Economy 203585, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    2. Teresa Backhaus & Kai-Uwe Müller, 2019. "Does the German Minimum Wage Help Low Income Households?: Evidence from Observed Outcomes and the Simulation of Potential Effects," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1805, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    3. Patrick Belser & Uma Rani, 2015. "Minimum wages and inequality," Chapters, in: Janine Berg (ed.), Labour Markets, Institutions and Inequality, chapter 5, pages 123-146, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Sotomayor, Orlando J., 2021. "Can the minimum wage reduce poverty and inequality in the developing world? Evidence from Brazil," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    5. Arindrajit Dube, 2019. "Minimum Wages and the Distribution of Family Incomes," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(4), pages 268-304, October.
    6. Kapelyuk Sergey, 2014. "Impact of minimum wage on income distribution and poverty in Russia," EERC Working Paper Series 14/03e, EERC Research Network, Russia and CIS.
    7. Natalya Shelkova, 2015. "Low-Wage Labor Markets and the Power of Suggestion," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 73(1), pages 61-88, March.
    8. Meghan J. Millea & Jon P. Rezek & Brian Shoup & Joshua Pitts, 2017. "Minimum Wages in a Segmented Labor Market: Evidence from South Africa," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 335-359, September.
    9. Tomas Kucera, 2020. "Are Employment Effects of Minimum Wage the Same Across the EU? A Meta-Regression Analysis," Working Papers IES 2020/2, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, revised Jan 2020.
    10. Alessandra Brito & Miguel Foguel & Celia Kerstenetzky, 2017. "The contribution of minimum wage valorization policy to the decline in household income inequality in Brazil: A decomposition approach," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(4), pages 540-575, October.
    11. Arindrajit Dube & Attila Lindner, 2024. "Minimum Wages in the 21st Century," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 2524, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    12. Grishina, E. & Kuznetsova, P., 2018. "Minimum Wage as a Tool to Reduce Poverty: Expected Consequences of the Reform," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 40(4), pages 137-156.
    13. Haroon Bhorat & Tara Caetano & Benjamin Jourdan & Ravi Kanbur & Christopher Rooney & Benjamin Stanwix & Ingrid Woolard, 2016. "Investigating the Feasibility of a National Minimum Wage for South Africa," Working Papers 201601, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    14. Lemos, Sara, 2009. "Minimum wage effects in a developing country," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 224-237, April.
    15. Sergey Kapelyuk, 2015. "The effect of minimum wage on poverty," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 23(2), pages 389-423, April.
    16. Ham, Andrés, 2018. "The Consequences of Legal Minimum Wages in Honduras," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 135-157.
    17. Alan Manning, 2021. "The Elusive Employment Effect of the Minimum Wage," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 3-26, Winter.
    18. Gindling, T.H. & Terrell, Katherine, 2010. "Minimum Wages, Globalization, and Poverty in Honduras," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 908-918, June.
    19. Selin Pelek, 2018. "The Impact of the Minimum Wage on Wage Distribution: The Evidence from Turkey," Ekonomi-tek - International Economics Journal, Turkish Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 17-59, January.
    20. Clemens, Jeffrey & Wither, Michael, 2019. "The minimum wage and the Great Recession: Evidence of effects on the employment and income trajectories of low-skilled workers," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 53-67.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    minimum wages; unemployment; poverty; inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies
    • J58 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Public Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aue:wpaper:1801. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ekaterini Glynou (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/diauegr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.