The Contribution of the Minimum Wage to US Wage Inequality over Three Decades: A Reassessment
We reassess the effect of minimum wages on US earnings inequality using additional decades of data and an IV strategy that addresses potential biases in prior work. We find that the minimum wage reduces inequality in the lower tail of the wage distribution, though by substantially less than previous...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
American Economic Association (AEA)
2016
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/103999 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6915-9381 |
| _version_ | 1826195897673842688 |
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| author | Autor, David H. Manning, Alan Smith, Christopher L. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics Autor, David H. Manning, Alan Smith, Christopher L. |
| author_sort | Autor, David H. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | We reassess the effect of minimum wages on US earnings inequality using additional decades of data and an IV strategy that addresses potential biases in prior work. We find that the minimum wage reduces inequality in the lower tail of the wage distribution, though by substantially less than previous estimates, suggesting that rising lower tail inequality after 1980 primarily reflects underlying wage structure changes rather than an unmasking of latent inequality. These wage effects extend to percentiles where the minimum is nominally nonbinding, implying spillovers. We are unable to reject that these spillovers are due to reporting artifacts, however. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:17:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/103999 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:17:34Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | American Economic Association (AEA) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1039992022-09-30T20:11:33Z The Contribution of the Minimum Wage to US Wage Inequality over Three Decades: A Reassessment Autor, David H. Manning, Alan Smith, Christopher L. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics Autor, David H. We reassess the effect of minimum wages on US earnings inequality using additional decades of data and an IV strategy that addresses potential biases in prior work. We find that the minimum wage reduces inequality in the lower tail of the wage distribution, though by substantially less than previous estimates, suggesting that rising lower tail inequality after 1980 primarily reflects underlying wage structure changes rather than an unmasking of latent inequality. These wage effects extend to percentiles where the minimum is nominally nonbinding, implying spillovers. We are unable to reject that these spillovers are due to reporting artifacts, however. 2016-08-25T19:58:40Z 2016-08-25T19:58:40Z 2016-01 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1945-7782 1945-7790 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/103999 Autor, David H., Alan Manning, and Christopher L. Smith. “ The Contribution of the Minimum Wage to US Wage Inequality over Three Decades: A Reassessment † .” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 8, no. 1 (January 2016): 58-99. © 2016 American Economic Association. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6915-9381 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/app.20140073 American Economic Journal: Applied Economics Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Economic Association (AEA) American Economic Association |
| spellingShingle | Autor, David H. Manning, Alan Smith, Christopher L. The Contribution of the Minimum Wage to US Wage Inequality over Three Decades: A Reassessment |
| title | The Contribution of the Minimum Wage to US Wage Inequality over Three Decades: A Reassessment |
| title_full | The Contribution of the Minimum Wage to US Wage Inequality over Three Decades: A Reassessment |
| title_fullStr | The Contribution of the Minimum Wage to US Wage Inequality over Three Decades: A Reassessment |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Contribution of the Minimum Wage to US Wage Inequality over Three Decades: A Reassessment |
| title_short | The Contribution of the Minimum Wage to US Wage Inequality over Three Decades: A Reassessment |
| title_sort | contribution of the minimum wage to us wage inequality over three decades a reassessment |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/103999 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6915-9381 |
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