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The Effect of Minimum Salaries on Employment of Teachers: A Test of the Monopsony Model

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  • William M. Boal

Abstract

The market for schoolteachers, at least outside metropolitan areas, has frequently been cited as an example of labor monopsony. To test for monopsony, this study measures the employment effects of increases in state‐mandated minimum salaries in two nonunion states: South Carolina and Texas. In South Carolina, there is weak evidence of a negative effect in rural school districts, with an estimated short‐run demand elasticity of about –0.2. In Texas, there is strong evidence of a negative effect in both urban and rural school districts, with an estimated short‐run demand elasticity of about –0.4. These results apparently reject the monopsony model of the market for schoolteachers.

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  • William M. Boal, 2009. "The Effect of Minimum Salaries on Employment of Teachers: A Test of the Monopsony Model," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 75(3), pages 611-638, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:soecon:v:75:y:2009:i:3:p:611-638
    DOI: 10.1002/j.2325-8012.2009.tb00923.x
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