Recent empirical work on the effects of minimum wages has called into question the conventional wisdom that minimum wages invariably reduce employment. We develop a model of \emph{monopsonistic competition} with \emph{free entry} to analyze the effects of minimum wages, and our predictions fit the empirical results closely. Under monopsonistic competition, we find that a rise in the minimum wage a) raises employment per firm, b) causes firm exit, c) may increase or reduce industry employment. Minimum wages increase welfare if they raise industry employment, but welfare effects are ambiguous if employment falls. Industry price and employment are inversely related if the product market is competitive. However, if firms have product market power, a minimum wage which raises industry employment can also increase prices.
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by EconWPA in its series Labor and Demography with number
9603001.
Length: 30 pages Date of creation: 25 Mar 1996 Date of revision:
21 May 1996 Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpla:9603001
Note: Type of Document - LaTex generated DVI file; to print on Any; pages: 30 ; figures: included Contact details of provider: Web page: http://129.3.20.41
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Find related papers by JEL classification: J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand J42 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Monopsony; Segmented Labor Markets L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
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