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The Consumption Response to Minimum Wages: Evidence from Chinese Households

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Abstract

This paper evaluates the Chinese minimum wage policy for the period 2002-2009 in terms of its impact on low income household consumption. Using a representative household panel, we find support for the permanent income hypothesis, whereby unanticipated and persistent income increases due to minimum wage policy change are fully spent. The impact is driven by households with at least one child. We infer significant positive welfare effects for low income households based on expenditure increases concentrated in health care and education, whereas a negative employment effect of higher minimum wage cannot be confirmed.

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  • Ernest Dautovic & Harald Hau & Yi Huang, 2017. "The Consumption Response to Minimum Wages: Evidence from Chinese Households," IHEID Working Papers 01-2017, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:gii:giihei:heidwp01-2017
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    Cited by:

    1. Fan, Haichao & Lin, Faqin & Tang, Lixin, 2018. "Minimum Wage and Outward FDI from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 1-19.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Minimum wages; Labor income; Household consumption; Permanent income hypothesis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy
    • C26 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Instrumental Variables (IV) Estimation

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