Who Pays for the Minimum Wage?

S-Tier
Journal: American Economic Review
Year: 2019
Volume: 109
Issue: 8
Pages: 2693-2727

Authors (2)

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

This paper provides a comprehensive assessment of the margins along which firms responded to a large and persistent minimum wage increase in Hungary. We show that employment elasticities are negative but small even four years after the reform; that around 75 percent of the minimum wage increase was paid by consumers and 25 percent by firm owners; that firms responded to the minimum wage by substituting labor with capital; and that disemployment effects were greater in industries where passing the wage costs to consumers is more difficult. We estimate a model with monopolistic competition to explain these findings.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aecrev:v:109:y:2019:i:8:p:2693-2727
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25