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Dating back to the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt argued that workers were entitled to a wage that allowed them to enjoy a decent standard of living-a conviction that led the president to propose the first federally-mandated minimum wage. Mr. Roosevelt's proposal was met with highly partisan resistance in congress and the courts-reactions not different in kind from the highly partisan resistance former President Obama experienced in his proposal to increase the federal minimum wage from its current level of $7.25 per hour. Reflecting President Roosevelt's convictions, it is clear that many low wage workers today are not, and cannot, enjoying a decent standard of living at current minimum wage levels. Further, many of the economic arguments raised in opposition to increasing the minimum wage have been thoroughly discredited: empirical evidence suggests that increased minimum wages would not lead to dramatic spikes in unemployment, massive substitutions of capital for labor, business closings, and significantly increased consumer prices. However, as compelling as arguments for increasing the minimum wage may be, the reality is that this may not be sufficient to alleviate the plight of low income workers, particularly given the political nature of minimum wage adjustments. Indeed, it may be time to shift the national focus away from the minimum wage to an emphasis on viable living wage legislation, a proposition consistent with the social justice perspective of contemporary ethicists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes announcement effects of the new statutory minimum wage on employment expectations and uncertainties in Germany. Using a difference-in-differences approach applied to the IAB Establishment Panel, employers affected by the minimum wage show an increased employment uncertainty and a 0.9% points drop in their expected employment growth. Using the same identification strategy with data from 2015, the treatment effect on actual employment growth of affected employers matches the employers' expectation. Hence, an analysis of employer expectations seems to be promising to detect employment effects of policy changes before they come into force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses identification based on difference-in-differences (DiD) approaches with multiple treatments. It shows that an appropriate adaptation of the common trend assumption underlying the DiD strategy for the comparison of two treatments restricts the possibility of effect heterogeneity for at least one of the treatments. The required assumption of effect homogeneity is likely to be violated because of non-random assignment to treatment based on both observables and unobservables. However, this paper shows that, under certain conditions, the DiD estimate comparing two treatments identifies a lower bound in absolute values on the average treatment effect on the treated compared to the unobserved non-treatment state, even if effect homogeneity is violated. This is possible if the treatments have ordered treatment effects, that is, in expectation, the effects of both treatments compared to no treatment have the same sign, and one treatment has a stronger effect than the other treatment on the respective recipients. Such assumptions are plausible if treatments are ordered or vary in intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide the first causal analysis of how minimum wages affects enrollments and expenditures in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ( SNAP). Exploiting state- and federal-level variation in minimum-wage policy between 1990 and 2012, and incorporating local controls in our specifications, we find that a 10 percent minimum wage increase reduces SNAP enrollment between 2.4 and 3.2 percent, and reduces program expenditures an estimated 1.9 percent. If the federal minimum wage were increased from $7.25 to $10.10, enrollment would fall between 7.5 and 8.7 percent (3.1 to 3.6 million persons) relative to 2012 levels, and annual expenditures would decrease 6 percent ($4.6 billion). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use data from the National Basketball Association (NBA) to analyze the impact of minimum salaries on an employee's career length. The NBA has a salary structure in which the minimum salary a player can receive increases with the player's years of experience. The NFL has a similar minimum wage policy; research suggests that the introduction of this system shortened career length in the NFL. Using duration analysis, we fail to find evidence that the new multi-tiered minimum wage scale in the NBA increased the probability of exit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Con el envejecimiento de la población en Singapur, la contratación masiva de trabajadores extranjeros poco calificados se ha convertido en un obstáculo importante al crecimiento con equidad, pues provoca el estancamiento de los salarios más bajos. En respuesta a este problema, el autor defiende la implantación de un salario mínimo que complemente el régimen actual de prestaciones ligadas al empleo. Tras refutar las objeciones que habitualmente se aducen en contra, propone medios para establecer un salario mínimo en Singapur, así como medidas para mejorar la red de protección social del país y promover un crecimiento económico más sostenible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Con datos de encuestas CHIP y RUMCI de 1995 a 2008, se analiza cómo afecta el problema de la baja remuneración a los trabajadores de la China urbana, locales y migrantes. La tasa de baja remuneración (inferior a dos tercios del salario horario mediano) es elevada, se mantuvo relativamente estable para los locales entre 1995 y 2008 y disminuyó para los migrantes entre 2002 y 2007, aunque siguió siendo comparativamente muy superior. Tras investigar los determinantes del problema y sus consecuencias en el bienestar, los autores abogan por subvenciones a la formación, reforzar el cumplimiento del salario mínimo y promover la negociación salarial en las empresas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use the longitudinal nature of the master file of the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics in Canada for the period 1993–99 to estimate the employment impacts for older workers of the large number (24) of minimum wage increases that have occurred across the different provincial jurisdictions over that period. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, the minimum wage increases have positive impacts on the employment of older workers compared with the negative impacts that are commonly estimated for youths in Canada. The results are robust across various comparison groups and measures of the minimum wage increases. Reasons for this unusual finding are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the relationship between minimum wage increases and the economic well being as well as the standard of living of single mothers in the U.S. The study uses a cross-sectional data from the 1992-2005 March Current Population Survey (CPS). It notes that minimum wages increases acquire public's support as reflected in the 2006 Associated Press-AOL News poll which states that 80% of Americans sanctioned the federal minimum wage increases. Statistical tools and data are used that deal on poverty measure, single mothers employment, minimum wage, welfare policy variables, and state economic controls. Results infers that wage increase is inefficient in poverty alleviation because most of the single mothers are already earning wages above the state and federal minimum wages.

In economics, considerations of liberty are generally regarded as a secondary question of ‘policy implications’ and a matter of mere opinion. This essay rejects the relegation of liberty to such a status. It argues that the distinction between voluntary and coercive action, rooted in concepts of private ownership and consent, and forming the basis of liberty, should play a fundamental role in the way economic issues and arguments are formulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does increasing the minimum wage lead to employment losses? For many years most economists thought that the answer to this was a straightforward ‘yes’. However, research during the 1990s began to overturn this conventional wisdom and showed that increases in the minimum wage did not automatically lead to employment losses. A recent Australian study, by Leigh (2003), examined the impact of statutory minimum wages in Western Australia and reached conclusions which supported the conventional view. However, close scrutiny of Leigh's article shows that it is fundamentally flawed. Despite Leigh's efforts, it remains the case that we simply do not know a great deal about the employment impact of Australia's system of minimum wages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the political economy of the “minimum-wage institution (MWI)” in an internationally integrated product market. The authors consider a two-sector Economic Union (EU) with a perfectly competitive agricultural sector and a unionized oligopolistic manufacturing sector in which there exist productivity asymmetries across firms. It is shown that efficient firms have an incentive to strategically opt for intercountry minimum-wage agreements high enough to raise their inefficient rivals’ costs and thus gain business in equilibrium. The unions of workers in all countries also find these agreements in their best interest. As a consequence, the MWI may emerge as the equilibrium institutional resolution of alternative political processes (i.e., an EU-wide referendum or special-interest politics), despite its negative effect on aggregate employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The minimum wage (MW) can improve the position of disadvantaged groups by reducing the incidence of low pay and promoting pay equality. Some relevant contentious questions of policy are summarized here: issues concerning coverage (which sectors included/excluded, the preponderance of the low-paid in sectors where workers are poorly represented and organized, the relevance of a MW in the informal sector); the controversy surrounding the impact of the MW on employment, notably whether it has greater impact on the composition than on the level of employment; and causal factors in the male/female wage gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) had potentially significant implications for small firms. Orthodox economic theory predicts adverse consequences, though institutional analysis points to potential efficiency as well as fairness effects. Using longitudinal data on 55 firms, this paper examines the impact of the NMW in small firms in clothing manufacture and hotel and catering. Different patterns of adjustment were observed, explained by both size and sector characteristics. Overall, the impact of the NMW was mediated by the informality of employment relations in the small firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the effect of minimum wage increases on employment in the United States. The author presents a table that summarizes the elasticities of employment with respect to the minimum wage from a subset of these studies that use relatively common regression or difference- in-difference procedures to estimate minimum wage effects. First, there is a fairly wide range of estimated employment effects of minimum wages, ranging from large positive to moderately large negative elasticities.

The article discusses the effect of the national minimum wage (NMW) in Great Britain on pay levels and pay dispersion vary with different theories of wages. A review of main theories of wages proposed by leading economists suggests that effects are less determinate than is often thought and that they depend on the role of pay within the motivational structure of firms. An alternative view is presented that examines the dual role of wages. The article also discusses monopsony models and efficiency wage theory.

Suggests a method of testing for publication bias when applied to time-series studies in economics. Null hypothesis of no publication bias when parameters are changing; Evidence of publication bias; Application to time-series studies of the effects of minimum wages on employment; Results of research by David Card and Alan B. Krueger.

The prospect of direct intervention in the process of wage determination as envisaged in the Social Charter has met with considerable criticism. In particular, employers' organizations and certain governments have rejected outright the proposal to require firms to pay an equitable wage. However, in all member-states except the UK and Ireland, arrangements exist to ensure that nearly all workers are covered by minimum wage protection (through national minimum wages or full-coverage collective agreements). In this article the nature of low-paid employment in member-states is examined and different methods of wage regulation are described. After reviewing the economic effects of wage regulation, we discuss possible initiatives on wage regulation at the Community level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the race differences in the distribution of earnings in the U.S. Characteristics and determinants of earning distribution; Role of differences in the underlying distribution of ability within population; Results of unionism and minimum wage laws.

The article discusses the economics of the living wage. The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has made an application for the new "Living Wage" which is being heard by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC). This paper discusses the key issues focusing on the economic case for fair and equitable wages including the employment, productivity, and equity arguments. The paper is based on the economic submissions made by the ACTU in December 1996. The Living Wage claim reflects the view that the fixing of fair and reasonable award rates of pay should be based on a standard which is sufficient for a worker to belong to and participate in the Australian community. The Living Wage claim sets a minimum award rate based on established AIRC Award skill relativities, which meet the "needs" basis of workers and is set on fair 'market" rates. The objective of the Living Wage claim is to establish a minimum of $12 per hour for work within ordinary hours, and $436 per standard 38-hour week.

In this paper the effect of minimum wages on employment and labour supply and hence on unemployment is examined using Canadian provincial data for the period 1975-9. The analysis here differs from most previous studies in several important ways. For example, the minimum wage variable in the regression analysis is the minimum wage rate only rather than a composite of the minimum wage rate and coverage; the demand variation variable here is real output rather than the endogenous prime-age male unemployment rate; and the analysis includes the impact of the minimum wage on the employment and supply of adult age groups as well as teenagers. Our results show that the minimum wage has a significant negative effect on the employment and labour force levels of most age-sex groups and a significant positive effect on the unemployment rates of all age-sex groups. We conclude that the employment and unemployment effects of the minimum wage are stronger and more broadly felt than was previously realized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the effect of the minimum wage laws on the subsistence sector of the economy. Conclusion about the minimum wage law; Assumptions on the minimum wage law; Impact of the minimum wage law on production.

Presents news concerning economics as of June 1991. Belief that big firms prevent innovations that might reduce their profits; Ban on the trade of in rhino horn; Relations between minimum wage and employment.