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The minimum wage and teen educational attainment

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  • Smith, Alexander A.

Abstract

Teen employment effects are central to the minimum wage debate, but important indirect effects on education receive relatively little attention. I investigate the effect of changes in the minimum wage on high school dropout decisions. Consistently across two sources of variation and three individual-level datasets, I find that increases in the minimum wage substantially reduce the dropout likelihood of low-socioeconomic status (SES) teens but have no effect on other teens.

Suggested Citation

  • Smith, Alexander A., 2021. "The minimum wage and teen educational attainment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:73:y:2021:i:c:s0927537121000968
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2021.102061
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    Cited by:

    1. Arindrajit Dube & Attila S. Lindner, 2024. "Minimum Wages in the 21st Century," NBER Working Papers 32878, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Hristos Doucouliagos & Katarina Zigova, 2024. "Minimum Wages and Human Capital Investment: A Meta-Regression Analysis," Economics of Education Working Paper Series 0219, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).
    3. Jiménez, Bruno, 2023. "The Political economy of the minimum wage," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).

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