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121 records from EconBiz based on author Name
1. Menu adjustment in response to the minimum wage : a return to the New Jersey-Pennsylvania border
abstractThis paper studies how output prices are affected by increases in the minimum wage. To the best of our knowledge, we provide the first examination of how the prices of an entire menu of items at a single business adjust in response to a minimum wage increase. Using data we gather form a fast-food chain, we find that a $1 minimum wage rise increased average prices by 7 cents, implying a pass-through elasticity of around 0.13. We also study how the price response across individual goods varies with the labor intensity in production of those goods. Consistent with a theoretical framework we describe, the prices of items that require more labor to produce increased by more due to the minimum wage increase. A $1 increase in the minimum wage raised the item price by an extra 0.3 cents for every additional preparation step. We also find that more price adjustment takes place at the store level than at the item level, and that it takes longer for prices to respond to a minimum wage increase than the existing literature suggests.
Papps, Kerry L.; Strain, Michael R.;2025
Type: Graue Literatur; Non-commercial literature; Arbeitspapier; Working Paper;
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Link 2. Employment and labor supply responses to the Child Tax Credit expansion : theory and evidence
abstractThe 2021 Child Tax Credit (CTC) expansion increased government benefits to families, and especially to families with the lowest incomes. Economic theory predicts that this policy intervention would have led to a reduction in labor supply among adults in those families. Our review of available research suggests that employment within broadly defined demographic groups was not reduced by the 2021 CTC changes. However, we present evidence that employment was reduced among mothers with relatively low levels of education - the demographic group that was most affected by the CTC expansion. For the 2021 CTC expansion, theory and evidence were in the strongest alignment when the research design that produced the evidence was most focused on the demographic groups most likely to be affected by the expansion.
Schanzenbach, Diane Whitmore; Strain, Michael R.;2024
Type: Graue Literatur; Non-commercial literature; Arbeitspapier; Working Paper;
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Link Link 3. Do reemployment bonuses increase employment? : evidence from the Idaho Return to Work Bonus program
abstractIn June 2020, Idaho announced the Return to Work Bonus program, which provided residents who returned to work with bonuses of up to $1,500. Using multiple data sources, we present difference-in-differences, triple differences, and synthetic control estimates suggesting the program may have increased individual employment and accelerated flows into employment from unemployment and from nonparticipation in the labor force. We show the program likely increased state-level employment rates. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper to study the effects of reemployment bonuses on the U.S. labor market outside an experimental setting.
Hobbs, Duncan R.; Strain, Michael R.;2024
Type: Graue Literatur; Non-commercial literature; Arbeitspapier; Working Paper;
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Link Link 4. Does policy advocacy generate good PR? : evidence from labor unions and minimum wages
abstractWe develop new facts relating news coverage, interest groups, and events in the legislative histories of minimum wage increases. First, we create and validate a database of news articles that includes coverage of minimum wages and organized labor. Second, we show that policy changes predict increases in news coverage that connects organized labor and minimum wages, in particular when those articles reference high-profile interest groups and research output. Third, these policy events lead coverage of organized labor to shift towards articles about minimum wages. We observe that the minimum wage's popularity with the public makes this shift qualify as "good PR," an assessment that is supported by sentiment analysis of articles about organized labor. This public relations channel can thus help rationalize why interest groups engage in policy advocacy.
Clemens, Jeffrey; Strain, Michael R.;2023
Type: Graue Literatur; Non-commercial literature; Arbeitspapier; Working Paper;
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Link Link 5. Why do labor unions advocate for minimum wage increases?
abstractOver the past decade, organized labor has played a significant role in advocating for minimum wage increases. Why might this be, given that the minimum wage may act as a substitute for the bargaining power offered by labor unions? In this paper, we study the interplay between minimum wages and union membership. We estimate that each dollar in minimum wage increase predicts a 5 percent increase (0.3 pp) in the union membership rate among individuals ages 16-40. Consistent with a classic "free-riding" hypothesis, however, we find that minimum wage increases predict declines in union membership among the minimum wage's most direct beneficiaries. Instead, increases in union membership occur among much broader groups that are not directly affected by the minimum wage.
Clemens, Jeffrey; Strain, Michael R.;2023
Type: Graue Literatur; Non-commercial literature; Arbeitspapier; Working Paper;
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Link Link 6. Does wage theft vary by demographic group? : evidence from minimum wage increases
abstractUsing Current Population Survey data, we assess whether and to what extent the burden of "wage theft" - wage payments below the statutory minimum wage - falls disproportionately on various demographic groups following minimum wage increases. For most racial and ethnic groups at most ages we find that underpayment rises similarly as a fraction of realized wage gains in the wake of minimum wage increases. We also present evidence that the burden of underpayment falls disproportionately on relatively young African American workers and that underpayment increases more for Hispanic workers among the full working-age population.
Clemens, Jeffrey; Strain, Michael R.;2023
Type: Graue Literatur; Non-commercial literature; Arbeitspapier; Working Paper;
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Link Link 7. Explaining differences in pandemic inflation across countries
Kamin, Steven; Kearns, John; Strain, Michael R.;2022
Type: Graue Literatur; Non-commercial literature; Arbeitspapier; Working Paper;
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Link Link 8. The minimum wage and union membership among minimum wage workers : why do unions advocate for minimum wage increases?
abstractOver the past decade, organized labor has played a significant role in advocating for minimum wage increases. In this paper, we investigate the effects of minimum wage increases on union membership among individuals in minimum wage intensive industries. Consistent with a "freeriding" hypothesis, we find that minimum wage increases predict declines in union membership among low-skilled's most direct beneficiaries. We find no evidence of a change in union membership among high-skilled workers in these industries.
Clemens, Jeffrey; Strain, Michael R.;2022
Type: Graue Literatur; Non-commercial literature; Arbeitspapier; Working Paper;
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Link Link 9. Does measurement error explain the increase in subminimum wage payment following minimum wage increases?
abstractIn analyses of minimum wages, positive "ripple effects" and subminimum wages are difficult to distinguish from measurement error. Indeed, prior work posits that a simple, symmetric measurement process may underlie both phenomena in Current Population Survey data for the full working age population. We show that the population-wide symmetry between spillovers and subminimum wage payment is illusory in that spillovers accrue to older individuals while underpayment accrues to the young. Symmetric measurement error cannot explain this heterogeneity, which increases the likelihood that both spillovers and subminimum-wage payment are real effects of minimum wage increases rather than artifacts of measurement error.
Clemens, Jeffrey; Strain, Michael R.;2022
Type: Graue Literatur; Non-commercial literature; Arbeitspapier; Working Paper;
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Link Link 10. How Important are Minimum Wage Increases in Increasing the Wages of Minimum Wage Workers?
abstractPopular discussion commonly presumes an outsized role for minimum wage increases as a driver of wage increases for minimum wage workers. In this paper, we investigate the accuracy of this presumption using data from the earnings studies of the Current Population Survey (CPS). CPS wage and earnings data enable us to assess the fraction of minimum wage workers who receive a raise within 12 months of their initial appearance as a minimum wage worker. On average from 2010 to 2019, we find that roughly 75 percent of minimum wage workers who remain employed experience a wage increase within 12 months. This fraction is higher during the later years of the sample, when the labor market has been strong, than in the earlier years. The fraction of minimum wage workers receiving wage increases is moderately higher when states enact minimum wage increases than when they do not. We also find that the fraction of minimum wage workers receiving wage increases is correlated with several measures of labor market tightness. Finally, wage gains are quite commonly associated with industry and/or occupation switches. This highlights the importance of career progression for the growth of earnings among entry-level workers. The vast majority of the wage gains realized by minimum wage workers thus appear to be driven by career progression and increases in labor demand. Minimum wage increases play a modest role as a driver of earnings trajectories beyond shaping the initial, typically short-lived, minimum wage job itself
Clemens, Jeffrey; Strain, Michael R.;2022
Type: Arbeitspapier; Working Paper; Graue Literatur; Non-commercial literature;
Availability: Link Link
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