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Optimal minimum wages

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  • Ahlfeldt, Gabriel
  • Roth, Duncan
  • Seidel, Tobias

Abstract

We develop a quantitative spatial model with heterogeneous firms and a monopsonistic labour market to derive minimum wages that maximize employment or welfare. Quantifying the model for German micro regions, we find that the German minimum wage, set at 48% of the national mean wage, has increased aggregate worker welfare by about 2.1% at the cost or reducing employment by about 0.3%. The welfare-maximizing federal minimum wage, at 60% of the national mean wage, would increase aggregate worker welfare by 4%, but reduce employment by 5.6%. An employment-maximizing regional wage, set at 50\% of the regional mean wage, would achieve a similar aggregate welfare effect and increase employment by 1.1%.

Suggested Citation

  • Ahlfeldt, Gabriel & Roth, Duncan & Seidel, Tobias, 2022. "Optimal minimum wages," CEPR Discussion Papers 16913, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:16913
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    13. Sebastian Link, 2019. "The Price and Employment Response of Firms to the Introduction of Minimum Wages," CESifo Working Paper Series 7575, CESifo.
    14. Friedrich Martin, 2020. "Using Occupations to Evaluate the Employment Effects of the German Minimum Wage," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 240(2-3), pages 269-294, April.
    15. Bernd Fitzenberger & Annabelle Doerr, 2016. "Konzeptionelle Lehren aus der ersten Evaluationsrunde der Branchenmindestlöhne in Deutschland [Conceptual lessons from the evaluation studies on sectoral minimum wages in Germany]," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 49(4), pages 329-347, December.
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    17. Stephen Machin & Alan Manning & Lupin Rahman, 2003. "Where the Minimum Wage Bites Hard: Introduction of Minimum Wages to a Low Wage Sector," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 1(1), pages 154-180, March.
    18. Gabriel Ahlfeldt & Duncan Roth & Tobias Seidel, 2018. "The Regional Effects of a National Minimum Wage," CESifo Working Paper Series 6924, CESifo.
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    Cited by:

    1. Gabriele Borg & Diego Gentile Passaro & Santiago Hermo, 2022. "From Workplace to Residence: The Spillover Effects of Minimum Wage Policies on Local Housing Markets," Papers 2208.01791, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2024.
    2. Garcia-Louzao, Jose & Tarasonis, Linas, 2023. "Wage and Employment Impact of Minimum Wage: Evidence from Lithuania," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 592-609.
    3. Breda, Thomas & Haywood, Luke & Wang, Haomin, 2022. "Equilibrium Effects of Payroll Tax Reductions and Optimal Policy Design," IZA Discussion Papers 15810, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Applied general equilibrium model; Minimum wage; Employment; Unemployment; Minimum wage policy; Minimum wages; Inequality; Germany; Monopsony;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J58 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Public Policy
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

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