IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/kob/dpaper/dp2025-09.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Should the Industrial Region Fear Hollowing Out by Raising the Minimum Wage?

Author

Listed:
  • Qianqian Yang

    (Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University, JAPAN)

  • Nobuaki Hamaguchi

    (Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration, Kobe University, JAPAN)

Abstract

This paper develops a spatial general equilibrium model with exogenous minimum wages to investigate regional minimum wage disparities in the New Economic Geography. Numerical simulations in a two-region economy reveal the impact of minimum wage hikes on the spatial distribution of firms. We observe industrial hollowing out beyond a critical minimum wage gap threshold, yet regions with higher minimum wages can remain attractive as the core, particularly with low transport costs. Such attractiveness can be interpreted as agglomeration rent. We further examine the sustainability of the core-periphery pattern and the impact of minimum wage increases on the local labor market.

Suggested Citation

  • Qianqian Yang & Nobuaki Hamaguchi, 2025. "Should the Industrial Region Fear Hollowing Out by Raising the Minimum Wage?," Discussion Paper Series DP2025-09, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.
  • Handle: RePEc:kob:dpaper:dp2025-09
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rieb.kobe-u.ac.jp/academic/ra/dp/English/DP2025-09.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2025
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Card, David & Krueger, Alan B, 1994. "Minimum Wages and Employment: A Case Study of the Fast-Food Industry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 772-793, September.
    2. Rikard Forslid & Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano, 2003. "An analytically solvable core-periphery model," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 3(3), pages 229-240, July.
    3. Katalin Bodnár & Ludmila Fadejeva & Stefania Iordache & Liina Malk & Desislava Paskaleva & Jurga Pesliakaitė & Nataša Todorović Jemec & Peter Tóth & Robert Wyszyński, 2018. "How do firms adjust to rises in the minimum wage? Survey evidence from Central and Eastern Europe," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-30, December.
    4. Barry T. Hirsch & Bruce E. Kaufman & Tetyana Zelenska, 2015. "Minimum Wage Channels of Adjustment," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 199-239, April.
    5. Richard Baldwin & Rikard Forslid & Philippe Martin & Gianmarco Ottaviano & Frederic Robert-Nicoud, 2005. "Economic Geography and Public Policy," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 7524.
    6. Borck, Rainald & Pfluger, Michael, 2006. "Agglomeration and tax competition," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 647-668, April.
    7. Dixit, Avinash K & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1977. "Monopolistic Competition and Optimum Product Diversity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(3), pages 297-308, June.
    8. Krugman, Paul, 1991. "Increasing Returns and Economic Geography," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 483-499, June.
    9. Peter Harasztosi & Attila Lindner, 2019. "Who Pays for the Minimum Wage?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(8), pages 2693-2727, August.
    10. Baldwin, Richard E. & Krugman, Paul, 2004. "Agglomeration, integration and tax harmonisation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 1-23, February.
    11. Mirko Draca & Stephen Machin & John Van Reenen, 2011. "Minimum Wages and Firm Profitability," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 129-151, January.
    12. Brakman,Steven & Garretsen,Harry & van Marrewijk,Charles, 2019. "An Introduction to Geographical and Urban Economics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108407366, Enero-Abr.
    13. John Schmitt, 2015. "Explaining the Small Employment Effects of the Minimum Wage in the United States," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 547-581, October.
    14. Hajime Takatsuka, 2011. "Economic Geography Of Firms And Skilled Labor," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(4), pages 784-803, October.
    15. Richard Baldwin & Rikard Forslid & Philippe Martin & Gianmarco Ottaviano & Frederic Robert-Nicoud, 2005. "Economic Geography and Public Policy," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 7524.
    16. Li, Xiaoying & Shi, Dongbo & Zhou, Sifan, 2023. "The minimum wage and the locations of new business entries in China: Estimates based on a refined border approach," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    17. Dale Belman & Paul J. Wolfson, 2014. "What Does the Minimum Wage Do?," Books from Upjohn Press, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, number wdmwd.
    18. David Card & Alan B. Krueger, 2016. "Myth and Measurement: The New Economics of the Minimum Wage Twentieth-Anniversary Edition," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 2, number 10738.
    19. Masahisa Fujita, 2010. "The Evolution Of Spatial Economics: From Thünen To The New Economic Geography," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 61(1), pages 1-32, March.
    20. Rohlin, Shawn M., 2011. "State minimum wages and business location: Evidence from a refined border approach," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 103-117, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Qianqian Yang & Nobuaki Hamaguchi, 2025. "Revisiting Minimum Wage: From Labor Economics to Spatial Economics," Discussion Paper Series DP2025-08, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.
    2. Kurt A. Hafner, 2015. "Tax Competition and Economic Integration," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(1), pages 45-61, February.
    3. Fabien Candau, 2008. "Entrepreneurs' Location Choice And Public Policies: A Survey Of The New Economic Geography," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(5), pages 909-952, December.
    4. Fabien Candau, 2008. "Urban costs, Trade costs and Tax Competition," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 118(5), pages 625-661.
    5. Arindrajit Dube & Attila Lindner, 2024. "Minimum Wages in the 21st Century," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 2425, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    6. Kristian Behrens & Frédéric Robert‐Nicoud, 2009. "Krugman's Papers in Regional Science: The 100 dollar bill on the sidewalk is gone and the 2008 Nobel Prize well‐deserved," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 88(2), pages 467-489, June.
    7. Fenge, Robert & von Ehrlich, Maximilian & Wrede, Matthias, 2009. "Public input competition and agglomeration," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 621-631, September.
    8. Kurt A. Hafner, 2011. "Trade Liberalization and Technology Diffusion," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(5), pages 963-978, November.
    9. Robert Fenge & Maximilian von Ehrlich & Matthias Wrede, 2007. "Fiscal Competition, Convergence and Agglomeration," CESifo Working Paper Series 2084, CESifo.
    10. Gerritse, Michiel, 2014. "Competing for firms under agglomeration: Policy timing and welfare," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 48-57.
    11. An-Ming Wang, 2016. "Agglomeration and simplified housing boom," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(5), pages 936-956, April.
    12. Karen Crabbé & Karolien De Bruyne, 2013. "Taxes, Agglomeration Rents and Location Decisions of Firms," De Economist, Springer, vol. 161(4), pages 421-446, December.
    13. Pierre Philippe Combes & Gilles Duranton & Henry G. Overman, 2005. "Agglomeration and the adjustment of the spatial economy§," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 84(3), pages 311-349, August.
    14. Koh, Hyun-Ju & Riedel, Nadine & Böhm, Tobias, 2013. "Do governments tax agglomeration rents?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 92-106.
    15. Rainald Borck & Michael Pflüger & Matthias Wrede, 2010. "A simple theory of industry location and residence choice," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 10(6), pages 913-940, November.
    16. Baldwin, Richard E. & Krugman, Paul, 2004. "Agglomeration, integration and tax harmonisation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 1-23, February.
    17. von Ehrlich, Maximilian & Seidel, Tobias, 2015. "Regional implications of financial market development: Industry location and income inequality," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 85-102.
    18. Toulemonde, Eric, 2006. "Acquisition of skills, labor subsidies, and agglomeration of firms," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(3), pages 420-439, May.
    19. Kranich, Jan, 2009. "Agglomeration, innovation and international research mobility," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 817-830, September.
    20. Olga Alonso‐Villar, 2008. "A model of economic geography with demand‐pull and congestion costs," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 87(2), pages 261-276, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Spatial general equilibrium model; Minimum wage; Core-periphery pattern; Transport cost;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation
    • F16 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Labor Market Interactions
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

    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:kob:dpaper:dp2025-09. 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: Office of Promoting Research Collaboration, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rikobjp.html .

    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.