The highs and lows of the minimum wage effect: A time-series cross-section study of the Canadian law

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Baker, M; Benjamin, D; Stanger, S
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Davis; University of Toronto
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF LABOR ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0734-306X
• DOI: 10.1086/209923
• 发表日期: 1999
• 页码: 318-350
• 关键词: fast-food industry; rational-expectations; subminimum wages; demand schedules; labor demand; panel-data; EMPLOYMENT; california; youth

摘要

We examine the effects of minimum wage legislation in Canada over the period 1975-93. For teenagers we find that a 10% increase in the minimum wage is associated with roughly a 2.5% decrease in employment. We also find that this result is driven by low frequency variation in the data. At high frequencies the elasticity is positive and insignificant. The difference in the elasticity across the bandwidth has implications for the interpretation of employment dynamics as a result of minimum wage policy and experimental design in minimum wage studies. It also provides a simple reconciliation of the new minimum wage research, which reports very small negative, or positive, elasticities.