The Effect of the Minimum Wage on Prices

No 1072, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: It is well established in the international literature that minimum wage increases compress the wages distribution. Firms respond to these higher labour costs by reducing employment, reducing profits, or raising prices. While there are hundreds of studies on the employment effect of the minimum wage, there is less than a handful studies on its profit effects, and only a couple of dozen studies on its price effects. Not only is the literature scanty on the minimum wage price effects, but also it lacks a survey on that. This survey represents an important contribution to the literature because it summarizes and critically compares over twenty price effect studies, providing a benchmark in the literature. This survey further contributes to the literature by offering an input to the recent debate over the direction of employment effects of the minimum wage. With employment and profits not significantly affected, higher prices is an obvious response to a minimum wage increase. Moreover, this survey also contributes to the literature by extending the current understanding on the minimum wage as a policy against inequality and poverty. If the minimum wage does not cause disemployment but causes inflation, it might hurt rather than aid the poor, who disproportionately suffer from inflation.

Keywords: employment effect; wage effect; minimum wage; price effect informal sector; cost shock (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 20 pages
Date: 2004-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

Published - published as: 'A Survey of the Effects of the Minimum Wage on Prices' in: Journal of Economic Surveys, 2008, 22(1), 187-212.

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Working Paper: The Effect of the Minimum Wage on Prices (2004)
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