IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-00926545.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Introducing a Statutory Minimum Wage in Middle and Low Income Countries

Author

Listed:
  • David Margolis

    (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor, IZA - Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit - Institute of Labor Economics)

Abstract

The motivation for introducing statutory minimum wages in many developing countries is often threefold: poverty-reduction, social justice and growth. How well the policy succeeds in attaining these goals will depend on the national context and the numerous choices made when designing the policy. Institutional capacity in developing countries tends to be limited, so institutional arrangements must be adapted. Nevertheless, a statutory minimum wage appears to have the potential to help low- and middle-income countries advance toward the aforementioned development objectives, even in the face of weak enforcement capacity and pervasive informality.

Suggested Citation

  • David Margolis, 2014. "Introducing a Statutory Minimum Wage in Middle and Low Income Countries," Post-Print hal-00926545, HAL.
  • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00926545
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-00926545
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-00926545/document
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Haroon Bhorat & Ravi Kanbur & Natasha Mayet, 2013. "The impact of sectoral minimum wage laws on employment, wages, and hours of work in South Africa," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-27, December.
    2. William Brown, 2009. "The Process of Fixing the British National Minimum Wage, 1997–2007," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 47(2), pages 429-443, June.
    3. Catherine SAGET, 2008. "Fixing minimum wage levels in developing countries: Common failures and remedies," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 147(1), pages 25-42, March.
    4. Kristensen, Nicolai & Cunningham, Wendy, 2006. "Do minimum wages in Latin America and the Caribbean matter ? Evidence from 19 countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3870, The World Bank.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. David N Margolis, 2014. "By Choice and by Necessity: Entrepreneurship and Self-Employment in the Developing World," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 26(4), pages 419-436, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Carla Canelas, 2014. "Minimum Wage and Informality in Ecuador," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-006, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Maike Hohberg & Jann Lay, 2015. "The impact of minimum wages on informal and formal labor market outcomes: evidence from Indonesia," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-25, December.
    3. Gindling, T. H. & Ronconi, Lucas, 2023. "Minimum Wage Policy and Inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 12931, Inter-American Development Bank.
    4. Haroon Bhorat & Ravi Kanbur & Benjamin Stanwix, 2017. "Minimum Wages in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Primer," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 32(1), pages 21-74.
    5. Adriana D. Kugler, 2019. "Impacts of Labor Market Institutions and Demographic Factors on Labor Markets in Latin America," IMF Working Papers 2019/155, International Monetary Fund.
    6. repec:unu:wpaper:wp2014-006 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Lukiyanova, A., 2018. "Minimum wage and minimum wages in Russia," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 37(1), pages 176-186.
    8. Giovanni Andrea Cornia & Bruno Martorano, 2010. "Policies for Reducing Income Inequality: Latin America During the Last Decade," Working papers 1006, UNICEF,Division of Policy and Strategy.
    9. Del Carpio, Ximena & Nguyen, Ha & Wang, Liang Choon, 2012. "Does the minimum wage affect employment ? evidence from the manufacturing sector in Indonesia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6147, The World Bank.
    10. Casanova, Luis. & Jiménez, Maribel. & Jiménez, Mónica., 2015. "Calidad del empleo y cumplimiento del salario mínimo en Argentina," ILO Working Papers 994891263402676, International Labour Organization.
    11. Kanayo Ogujiuba & Ntombifuthi Mngometulu, 2022. "Does Social Investment Influence Poverty and Economic Growth in South Africa: A Cointegration Analysis?," Economies, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-23, September.
    12. Kamila Fialová & Martina Mysíková, 2009. "The Minimum Wage: Labor Market Consequences in the Czech Republic," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 59(3), pages 255-274, August.
    13. repec:unu:wpaper:wp2012-14 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Gindling, T.H. & Terrell, Katherine, 2010. "Minimum Wages, Globalization, and Poverty in Honduras," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 908-918, June.
    15. Malo, Miguel Á., 2017. "Labour market institutions in small Pacific island countries: Main guidelines for labour market reforms," GLO Discussion Paper Series 100, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    16. Rulof Burger & Rachel Jafta & Dieter von Fintel, 2016. "Affirmative action policies and the evolution of post-apartheid South Africa's racial wage gap," WIDER Working Paper Series 066, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    17. van der Hoeven, Rolph, 2012. "Development Aid and Employment," WIDER Working Paper Series 107, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    18. Haroon Bhorat & Ravi Kanbur & Benjamin Stanwix, 2014. "Estimating the Impact of Minimum Wages on Employment, Wages, and Non-Wage Benefits: The Case of Agriculture in South Africa," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1402-1419.
    19. Gudibande, Rohan Ravindra & Jacob, Arun, 2020. "Minimum wages for domestic workers: impact evaluation of the Indian experience," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    20. Kishan Shah, 2022. "Diagnosing South Africa’s High Unemployment and Low Informality," CID Working Papers 138a, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    21. Camilo Mondragón-Vélez & Ximena Peña & Daniel Wills, 2010. "Labor Market Rigidities and Informality in Colombia," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Fall 2010), pages 65-101, August.
    22. World Bank, 2011. "Philippines," World Bank Publications - Reports 27384, The World Bank Group.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Minimum wages; development; institutions; enforcement;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
    • J46 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Informal Labor Market
    • K31 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Labor Law
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00926545. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.