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Aggregation Bias in Elasticities of Substitution and the Minimum Wage Paradox

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Author Info
Coen N. Teulings () (University of Amsterdam)

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Abstract

While the employment effects of minimum wages are usually reported to be small (suggesting low substitutability between skill types), direct estimates suggest a much larger degree of substitutability. This paper argues that this paradox is largely due to a bias induced by the aggregation of skill types into broad categories. An assignment model is applied where skilled workers have a comparative advantage in complex jobs. The implied pattern of substitutability reveals the sources of the bias. Estimation results for the United States show elasticities of complementarity to be underestimated by up to a factor 2.5. The methods laid out can likewise be applied to other markets where different quality types are close substitutes, like the housing market.

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Paper provided by Tinbergen Institute in its series Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers with number 98-118/3.

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Date of creation: 1998
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Handle: RePEc:dgr:uvatin:19980118

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Keywords: aggregation bias assignment models substitutation minimum wages

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  1. Meyer, Robert H & Wise, David A, 1983. "Discontinuous Distributions and Missing Persons: The Minimum Wage and Unemployed Youth," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 51(6), pages 1677-98, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Coen N. Teulings, 1998. "The Contribution of Minimum Wages to Increasing Wage Inequality," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 98-093/3, Tinbergen Institute. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Chang, Yang-Ming & Ehrlich, Isaac, 1985. "On the Economics of Compliance with the Minimum Wage Law," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(1), pages 84-91, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. MacDonald, Glenn M, 1982. "Information in Production," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(5), pages 1143-62, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Brown, Charles & Gilroy, Curtis & Kohen, Andrew, 1982. "The Effect of the Minimum Wage on Employment and Unemployment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 487-528, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Card, David & Lemieux, Thomas, 1996. "Wage dispersion, returns to skill, and black-white wage differentials," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 319-361, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Hamermesh, Daniel S., 1987. "The demand for labor in the long run," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & R. Layard (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 8, pages 429-471 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Rosen, Sherwin, 1974. "Hedonic Prices and Implicit Markets: Product Differentiation in Pure Competition," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(1), pages 34-55, Jan.-Feb.. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Teulings, Coen N, 1995. "The Wage Distribution in a Model of the Assignment of Skills to Jobs," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(2), pages 280-315, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Joseph G. Altonji & David Card, 1989. "The Effects of Immigration on the Labor Market Outcomes of Natives," NBER Working Papers 3123, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Meyer, Robert H & Wise, David A, 1983. "The Effects of the Minimum Wage on the Employment and Earnings of Youth," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(1), pages 66-100, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Murphy, Kevin M & Welch, Finis, 1990. "Empirical Age-Earnings Profiles," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(2), pages 202-29, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Topel, Robert H, 1994. "Regional Labor Markets and the Determinants of Wage Inequality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 17-22, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Sattinger, Michael, 1975. "Comparative Advantage and the Distributions of Earnings and Abilities," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 43(3), pages 455-68, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Sattinger, Michael, 1993. "Assignment Models of the Distribution of Earnings," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 31(2), pages 831-80, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Juhn, Chinhui & Murphy, Kevin M & Pierce, Brooks, 1993. "Wage Inequality and the Rise in Returns to Skill," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(3), pages 410-42, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Card, David & Krueger, Alan B, 1994. "Minimum Wages and Employment: A Case Study of the Fast-Food Industry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 772-93, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  1. Coen N. Teulings, 1998. "The Contribution of Minimum Wages to Increasing Wage Inequality," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 98-093/3, Tinbergen Institute. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Robert A.J. Dur & Coen N. Teulings, 2001. "Education and Efficient Redistribution," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 01-090/3, Tinbergen Institute, revised 12 Jun 2003. [Downloadable!]
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  3. Coen N. Teulings, 1999. "Substitution and Complementarity under Comparative Advantage and the Accumulation of Human Capital," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 99-049/3, Tinbergen Institute. [Downloadable!]
  4. Robert A.J. Dur & Coen N. Teulings, 2003. "Are Education Subsidies an Efficient Redistributive Device?," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 03-024/3, Tinbergen Institute, revised 19 Sep 2003. [Downloadable!]
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  5. Joop Hartog, 2002. "Desperately Seeking Structure: Sherwin Rosen (1938--2001)," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(483), pages 519-531, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Maarten Goos & Alan Manning, 2003. "Lousy and Lovely Jobs: the Rising Polarization of Work in Britain," CEP Discussion Papers dp0604, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Melchor Fernández & Alberto Meixide & Hipólito J. Simón, . "El trabajo de bajos salarios en España," Studies on the Spanish Economy 152, FEDEA. [Downloadable!]
  8. Hans Gersbach & Armin Schmutzler, 2006. "The Effects of Globalization on Worker Training," IZA Discussion Papers 2403, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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