Estimating the effects of the minimum wage in a developing country: A density discontinuity design approach

B-Tier
Journal: Journal of Applied Econometrics
Year: 2018
Volume: 33
Issue: 1
Pages: 29-51

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

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

Abstract

This paper proposes a framework to identify the effects of the minimum wage on the joint distribution of sector and wage in a developing country. I show how the discontinuity of the wage distribution around the minimum wage identifies the extent of noncompliance with the minimum wage policy, and how the conditional probability of sector given wage recovers the relationship between latent sector and wages. I apply the method in the “PNAD,” a nationwide representative Brazilian cross‐sectional dataset for the years 2001–2009. The results indicate that the size of the informal sector is increased by around 39% compared to what would prevail in the absence of the minimum wage, an effect attributable to (i) unemployment effects of the minimum wage on the formal sector and (ii) movements of workers from the formal to the informal sector as a response to the policy.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:wly:japmet:v:33:y:2018:i:1:p:29-51
Journal Field
Econometrics
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-25