Understanding the minimum wage effects on imperfect product and labour markets

了解最低工资对不完善产品和劳动力市场的影响

• 批准号: 527030839
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Boris Hirsch
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre (IVWL)
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/527030839?language=en
• 关键词: Understanding; minimum; wage; effects; imperfect

Whereas minimum wages are present in most countries nowadays, their effects remain a controversial issue among scientists and policymakers. In particular, little is known on how the competitive environment of firms affects their adjustments to the labour cost shock induced by a minimum wage. Against this background, this project is first to study in detail how firms’ product and labour market power shape their responses to the minimum wage. To measure product and labour market power at the firm level, the project relies on a recent methodology that allows to infer both types of market power from production function estimates. Specifically, this methodology provides direct firm-level measures of the mark-up of prices over marginal costs, of firms’ monopsony power in case of below competitive wages, and of workers’ monopoly power in case of above competitive wages. We implement this methodology using high-quality administrative firm panel data from the Official Firm Data for Germany (Amtliche Firmendaten für Deutschland, AFiD) and then study in three papers how product and labour market imperfections shape firms’ responses to the minimum wage. In terms of identification, we rely on a firm-level triple differences approach to investigate the effects of the introduction of the minimum wage in Germany in 2015 depending on firms’ product and labour market power prior to the minimum wage introduction. The three papers of this project not only revisit the employment effect of the minimum wage and investigate how product and labour market imperfections shape firms’ employment response, but also provide first comprehensive evidence on the interaction between both types of market imperfections and further responses. Apart from employment, we consider firms’ adjustments in terms of output, product prices, productivity, and labour substitution. Understanding such interactions is vital both from a scientific and policy point of view for several reasons. Textbook models of labour market monopsony predict that the minimum wage may not only improve workers’ wages but also increase employment, output, and efficiency. Studying the prevalence of labour market imperfections and how they shape the minimum wage effect thus offers the opportunity of explaining the modest employment effects of minimum wages found empirically and promises insights into the likely welfare implications of the minimum wage. Textbook models of goods market monopoly predict that firms may pass through their increased labour costs by raising product prices for consumers who then pay for the minimum wage. Studying how firms’ responses to the minimum wage vary with their product market power is thus important for understanding how the minimum wage affects worker welfare and is likely to reveal crucial interactions between competition and labour market policy. Therefore, we expect our findings to be of significant interest to scientists and policymakers alike.

虽然目前大多数国家都有最低工资，但其影响仍然是科学家和政策制定者之间有争议的问题。特别是，对于企业的竞争环境如何影响它们对最低工资引起的劳动力成本冲击的调整，人们知之甚少。在这种背景下，本项目首先详细研究企业的产品和劳动力市场力量如何影响它们对最低工资的反应。为了衡量公司一级的产品和劳动力市场力量，该项目依赖于最近的一种方法，该方法允许从生产函数估计中推断出这两种类型的市场力量。具体而言，这种方法提供了直接的企业层面的措施，价格的加价超过边际成本，企业的垄断权力的情况下，低于竞争力的工资，工人的垄断权力的情况下，竞争力的工资。我们实施这种方法使用高质量的行政企业面板数据从官方企业数据为德国（Amtliche Firmendaten für Deutschland，AFiD），然后在三篇论文中研究产品和劳动力市场的缺陷如何塑造企业的最低工资的反应。在识别方面，我们依靠企业层面的三重差异方法，根据最低工资引入前企业的产品和劳动力市场力量，调查了2015年德国引入最低工资的影响。该项目的三份文件不仅重新审视了最低工资的就业影响，并调查了产品和劳动力市场的缺陷如何影响企业的就业反应，而且还首次提供了关于这两种市场缺陷与进一步反应之间相互作用的全面证据。除了就业，我们还考虑了企业在产出、产品价格、生产率和劳动力替代方面的调整。从科学和政策的角度来看，理解这种相互作用至关重要，原因有几个。劳动力市场的教科书模型预测，最低工资不仅可以提高工人的工资，还可以增加就业、产出和效率。因此，研究劳动力市场的不完善性的普遍性，以及它们如何塑造最低工资的影响，提供了解释最低工资的适度就业影响的机会，发现经验和承诺的见解可能的福利影响的最低工资。教科书中的商品市场垄断模型预测，企业可能会通过提高消费者的产品价格来转嫁劳动力成本的增加，而消费者则会支付最低工资。因此，研究企业对最低工资的反应如何随其产品市场力量而变化，对于理解最低工资如何影响工人福利十分重要，并可能揭示竞争与劳动力市场政策之间的重要相互作用。因此，我们希望我们的研究结果能引起科学家和政策制定者的极大兴趣。