Earnings Inequality and the Minimum Wage: Evidence from Brazil

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Engbom, Niklas; Moser, Christian
• 署名单位: National Bureau of Economic Research; New York University; Center for Economic & Policy Research (CEPR); New York University; Columbia University; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.20181506
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 3803-3847
• 关键词: equilibrium search; UNITED-STATES; job search; dispersion; MODEL; FIRMS; workers; informality; differentials; increases

摘要

Increases in the minimum wage can substantially reduce earnings inequality. To demonstrate this, we combine administrative and sur-vey data with an equilibrium model of the Brazilian labor market. We find that a 128 percent increase in the real minimum wage in Brazil between 1996 and 2018 had far-reaching spillover effects on wages higher up in the distribution. The increased minimum wage accounts for 45 percent of a large fall in earnings inequality over this period. At the same time, the effects of the minimum wage on employment and output are muted by reallocation of workers toward more pro-ductive firms. (JEL D31, E23, E24, J31, J38, O15)