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Cross-state differences in the minimum wage and out-of-state commuting by low-wage workers

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  • McKinnish, Terra

Abstract

The 2009 federal minimum wage increase, which compressed cross-state differences in the minimum wage, is used to investigate the claim that low-wage workers are attracted to commute out of state to neighboring states that have higher minimum wages. The analysis focuses on Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs) that experience commuting flows with one or more neighboring state. A difference-in-differences-in-differences model compares PUMAs that experienced a sizeable increase or decrease in their cross-border minimum wage differential to those that experience smaller change in the cross-border differential. Out-of-state commuting of low wage workers (less than 10 dollars an hour) is then compared to that of moderate wage workers (10–13 dollars an hour). The results suggest that an increase in own state's minimum wage, relative to neighbor's, increases the frequency with which low-wage workers commute out of the state. The analysis is replicated on the subset of PUMAs that experience commuting flows with more than one neighboring state, so that the estimates are identified entirely within PUMA. As a whole, the results suggest that low-wage workers tend to commute away from minimum wage increases rather than towards them.

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  • McKinnish, Terra, 2017. "Cross-state differences in the minimum wage and out-of-state commuting by low-wage workers," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 137-147.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:regeco:v:64:y:2017:i:c:p:137-147
    DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2017.02.006
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    3. Winters, John, 2022. "Minimum Wages and Restaurant Employment for Teens and Adults in Metropolitan and Non-Metropolitan Areas," ISU General Staff Papers 202208161905110000, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    4. Adams, Camilla & Meer, Jonathan & Sloan, CarlyWill, 2022. "The minimum wage and search effort," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    5. Perez Perez, Jorge, 2020. "City Minimum Wages and Spatial Equilibrium Effects," SocArXiv fpx9e, Center for Open Science.
    6. Alm, James & Enami, Ali, 2017. "Do government subsidies to low-income individuals affect interstate migration? Evidence from the Massachusetts Health Care Reform," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 119-131.
    7. Petra E. Todd & Weilong Zhang, 2022. "Distributional Effects of Local Minimum Wages: A Spatial Job Search Approach," NBER Working Papers 30668, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Meer, Jonathan, 2018. "Recent Research on the Minimum Wage: Implications for Missouri," MPRA Paper 93926, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. David Neumark, 2019. "The Econometrics and Economics of the Employment Effects of Minimum Wages: Getting from Known Unknowns to Known Knowns," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 20(3), pages 293-329, August.
    10. Shirley, Peter, 2018. "The response of commuting patterns to cross-border policy differentials: Evidence from the American Community Survey," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 1-16.
    11. Dharmasankar, Sharada & Yoo, Hoyoung, 2023. "Assessing the main and spillover effects of Seattle's minimum wage on establishment decisions," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    12. Zhang, W., 2018. "Distribution Effects of Local Minimum Wage Hikes: A Spatial Job Search Approach," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1889, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    13. Yamagishi, Atsushi, 2021. "Minimum wages and housing rents: Theory and evidence," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    14. Weilong Zhang, 2018. "Distributional Effects of Local Minimum Wage Hikes: A Spatial Job Search Approach," 2018 Meeting Papers 12, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    15. Li, Xiaoying & Shi, Dongbo & Zhou, Sifan, 2023. "The minimum wage and the locations of new business entries in China: Estimates based on a refined border approach," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    16. Yamagishi, Atsushi, 2019. "Minimum Wages and Housing Rents: Theory and Evidence from Two Countries," MPRA Paper 94238, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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