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Spillover Bias in Cross-Border Minimum Wage Studies: Evidence from a Gravity Model

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  • Daniel Kuehn

    (Research Associate I, The Urban Institute)

Abstract

This paper explores the problem of spillover bias in cross-border studies of the minimum wage using a commuter gravity model on county-level data from 2009 to 2013. Commuter flows conform to the expectations of the gravity equation, but flows across county borders are sensitive to changes in the minimum wage rate, which implies that minimum wage employment effect estimates using contiguous counties are likely to suffer from spillover bias. One way to address this bias is to include a control ring between treatment and comparison counties, although this solution may introduce biases of its own. A gravity model that includes a control ring affirms that this alternative comparison group can address this spillover bias problem.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Kuehn, 2016. "Spillover Bias in Cross-Border Minimum Wage Studies: Evidence from a Gravity Model," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 37(4), pages 441-459, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jlabre:v:37:y:2016:i:4:d:10.1007_s12122-016-9234-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s12122-016-9234-3
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    3. Shirley, Peter, 2018. "The response of commuting patterns to cross-border policy differentials: Evidence from the American Community Survey," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 1-16.
    4. Cheng, Wenyin & Meng, Bo & Gao, Yuning & Dollar, David, 2024. "The paradox of decelerated technology importation and accelerated innovation in China: Insights from national technology development zones," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    5. Priyaranjan Jha & David Neumark & Antonio Rodriguez-Lopez, 2022. "What's Across the Border? Re-Evaluating the Cross-Border Evidence on Minimum Wage Effects," CESifo Working Paper Series 9746, CESifo.
    6. Devereux, Kevin & Studnicka, Zuzanna, 2024. "Non-monotonic employment effects by market structure and minimum wage level," CLEF Working Paper Series 66, Canadian Labour Economics Forum (CLEF), University of Waterloo.
    7. Perez Perez, Jorge, 2020. "City Minimum Wages and Spatial Equilibrium Effects," SocArXiv fpx9e, Center for Open Science.
    8. Dharmasankar, Sharada & Yoo, Hoyoung, 2023. "Assessing the main and spillover effects of Seattle's minimum wage on establishment decisions," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    9. Laws, A., 2018. "Do minimum wages increase search effort?," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1857, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    10. McKinnish, Terra, 2017. "Cross-state differences in the minimum wage and out-of-state commuting by low-wage workers," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 137-147.
    11. Sigbjørn Sødal, 2017. "A Gravity Approach to Constructing Regional Structures from Interregional Flow Data," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 23(4), pages 361-377, November.

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