The push for a U.S. living wage: Modeling for inflation, unemployment, both, or neither Cover Image

Натискът за въвеждане на екзистенц-минимум в САЩ: връзка на минималната работна заплата с инфлацията, с безработицата, и с двете или с никое от двете
The push for a U.S. living wage: Modeling for inflation, unemployment, both, or neither

Author(s): Todd J. Barry
Subject(s): Economy, National Economy, Socio-Economic Research
Published by: Институт за икономически изследвания при Българска академия на науките
Keywords: minimum wage; price floor; unemployment; inflation; living wage; marginalism

Summary/Abstract: Few U.S. economic issues in the last half-century have engendered as frequent political controversies as the minimum wage. This article looks at both the politics behind efforts to make the minimum wage a “living wage” in recent elections, and the many relevant economic effects, such as inflation and unemployment, from both a macro- and a microeconomic perspective. The paper offers several original conceptual models, in various economic situations, which examine the regressions of eight U.S. states over the 1996-2016 period. The results show that high minimum wages can harm employment, but that moderation can aid stagnant wages in economically-improving inflationary settings without drastically reducing employment short-term.

  • Issue Year: 2020
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 68-105
  • Page Count: 38
  • Language: Bulgarian