The minimum wage and inequality. The effects of education and technology.

Autor/in	Barany, Zsofia L.
Institution	Centre for Economic Performance
Titel	The minimum wage and inequality. The effects of education and technology. Gefälligkeitsübersetzung: Der Mindestlohn und Ungleichheit. Die Effekte von Erziehung und Technologie.
Quelle	London (2011), 68 S. PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit
Reihe	CEP discussion paper. 1076
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; Monographie
Schlagwörter	Soziale Ungleichheit; Technologische Entwicklung; Einkommensunterschied; Beschäftigungseffekt; Einkommenseffekt; Einkommensentwicklung; Lohnentwicklung; Lohntheorie; Mindestlohn; Niedriglohn; Qualifikationsniveau; Qualifikationsstruktur; Auswirkung; USA
Abstract	"While there has been intense debate in the empirical literature about the effects of minimum wages on inequality in the US, its general equilibrium effects have been given little attention. In order to quantify the full effects of a decreasing minimum wage on inequality, I build a dynamic general equilibrium model, based on a two-sector growth model where the supply of high-skilled workers and the direction of technical change are endogenous. I find that a permanent reduction in the minimum wage leads to an expansion of low-skilled employment, which increases the incentives to acquire skills, thus changing the composition and size of high-skilled employment. These permanent changes in the supply of labour alter the investment flow into R&D, thereby decreasing the skill-bias of technology. The reduction in the minimum wage has spill-over effects on the entire distribution, affecting upper-tail inequality. Through a calibration exercise, I find that a 30 percent reduction in the real value of the minimum wage, as in the early 1980s, accounts for 15 percent of the subsequent rise in the skill premium, 18.5 percent of the increase in overall inequality, 45 percent of the increase in inequality in the bottom half, and 7 percent of the rise in inequality at the top half of the wage distribution." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku). Die Untersuchung enthält quantitative Daten. Forschungsmethode: deskriptive Studie; Längsschnitt. Die Untersuchung bezieht sich auf den Zeitraum 1981 bis 2006.
Erfasst von	Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Nürnberg
Update	2012/2