Minimum Wage Effects Across State Borders: Estimates Using Contiguous Counties

@article{Dub2010MinimumWE,
  title={Minimum Wage Effects Across State Borders: Estimates Using Contiguous Counties},
  author={Arindrajit Dub{\'e} and T. William Lester and Michael R. Reich},
  journal={The Review of Economics and Statistics},
  year={2010},
  volume={92},
  pages={945-964}
}
We use policy discontinuities at state borders to identify the effects of minimum wages on earnings and employment in restaurants and other low-wage sectors. Our approach generalizes the case study method by considering all local differences in minimum wage policies between 1990 and 2006. We compare all contiguous county pairs in the United States that straddle a state border and find no adverse employment effects. We show that traditional approaches that do not account for local economic… 
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708 Citations

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References

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