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Minimum Wage Pass-through to Wholesale and Retail Prices: Evidence from Cannabis Scanner Data

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  • Carl Hase

Abstract

A growing empirical literature finds that firms pass the cost of minimum wage hikes onto consumers via higher retail prices. Yet, little is known about minimum wage effects on wholesale prices and whether retailers face a wholesale cost shock in addition to the labor cost shock. I exploit the vertically disintegrated market structure of Washington state's legal recreational cannabis industry to investigate minimum wage pass-through to wholesale and retail prices. In a difference-in-differences with continuous treatment framework, I utilize scanner data on $6 billion of transactions across the supply chain and leverage geographic variation in firms' minimum wage exposure across six minimum wage hikes between 2018 and 2021. When ignoring wholesale cost effects, I find retail pass-through elasticities consistent with existing literature -- yet retail pass-through elasticities more than double once wholesale cost effects are accounted for. Retail markups do not adjust to the wholesale cost shock, indicating a full pass-through of the wholesale cost shock to retail prices. The results highlight the importance of analyzing the entire supply chain when evaluating the product market effects of minimum wage hikes.

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  • Carl Hase, 2023. "Minimum Wage Pass-through to Wholesale and Retail Prices: Evidence from Cannabis Scanner Data," Papers 2303.10367, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2023.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2303.10367
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Emi Nakamura & Dawit Zerom, 2010. "Accounting for Incomplete Pass-Through," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 77(3), pages 1192-1230.
    2. Mirko Draca & Stephen Machin & John Van Reenen, 2011. "Minimum Wages and Firm Profitability," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 129-151, January.
    3. Arindrajit Dube & T. William Lester & Michael Reich, 2016. "Minimum Wage Shocks, Employment Flows, and Labor Market Frictions," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(3), pages 663-704.
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