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Short-Term macroeconomic evaluation of the German minimum wage with a VAR/VECM

Author

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  • Alexander Herzog-Stein
  • Camille Logeay

Abstract

The German minimum wage was introduced in January 2015. This paper investigates the short-term macroeconomic impacts of its introduction. Therefore, an estimated VAR/VECM is used to perform forecasts that are interpreted as counterfactual to the introduction of the minimum wage and compared to actual developments of six key macroeconomic variables. The deviations are interpreted as minimum wage effects. Robustness checks as well as a comparison with descriptive empirical results are performed to assess the validity of the results. Overall, small positive price effects, significant positive wage effects, and positive employment effects although not robustly estimated in their magnitude are found.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexander Herzog-Stein & Camille Logeay, 2019. "Short-Term macroeconomic evaluation of the German minimum wage with a VAR/VECM," IMK Working Paper 197-2019, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:imk:wpaper:197-2019
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Minimum Wage; VAR; VECM; Wage; Price; Employment; Macroeconomics; Germany;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E65 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Studies of Particular Policy Episodes
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E17 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Forecasting and Simulation: Models and Applications
    • E01 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth; Environmental Accounts

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