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Minimum Wages and Earnings Inequality in Urban Mexico. Revisiting the Evidence

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  • Mariano Bosch
  • Marco Manacorda

Abstract

This paper explores the contribution of the minimum wage to the well documented rise in earnings inequality in Mexico between the late 1980 and the late 1990s. In contrast to the view that sees minimum wages as an ineffective redistributive tool in developing countries, we find that the deterioration in the real bite of the minimum wage is responsible for the entire rise in inequality at the bottom of the distribution. Our result challenges the widespread perception that trade induced shocks are the single most important factor behind the recent rise in earnings inequality in several less developed economies.

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  • Mariano Bosch & Marco Manacorda, 2008. "Minimum Wages and Earnings Inequality in Urban Mexico. Revisiting the Evidence," CEP Discussion Papers dp0880, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
  • Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0880
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    Cited by:

    1. Gindling, T.H. & Terrell, Katherine, 2009. "Minimum wages, wages and employment in various sectors in Honduras," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 291-303, June.
    2. Chiara Binelli & Orazio Attanasio, 2010. "Mexico in the 1990s: the Main Cross-Sectional Facts," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 13(1), pages 238-264, January.
    3. Marco Manacorda & Carolina Sanchez-Paramo & Norbert Schady, 2010. "Changes in Returns to Education in Latin America: The Role of Demand and Supply of Skills," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 63(2), pages 307-326, January.
    4. Raymundo M. Campos-Vázquez, 2013. "Why did wage inequality decrease in Mexico after NAFTA?," Economía Mexicana NUEVA ÉPOCA, CIDE, División de Economía, vol. 0(2), pages 245-278, July-Dece.
    5. Mohd Zaini Abd Karim & Sok-Gee Chan & Sallahuddin Hassan, 2016. "Minimum Wage Policy and Country's Technical Efficiency," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 6(4), pages 1729-1735.
    6. Raymundo M. Campos-Vázquez & Andrés Hincapié & Ruben Irvin Rojas-Valdés, 2012. "Family Income Inequality and the Role of Married Females' Earnings in Mexico: 1988-2010," Latin American Journal of Economics-formerly Cuadernos de Economía, Instituto de Economía. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile., vol. 49(1), pages 67-98, May.
    7. Öllinger, Michael & Ostermair, Christoph & Sell, Friedrich L., 2019. "Distributional effects of minimum wages: Can unions expect a double dividend? A theoretical exercise from a supply-side view," Working Papers in Economics 2019,2, Bundeswehr University Munich, Economic Research Group.
    8. Raymundo M. Campos Vázquez & Andrés Hincapie & Rubén I. Rojas Valdés, 2011. "Family Income Inequality and the Role of Wives Earnings in Mexico: 1988-2010," Serie documentos de trabajo del Centro de Estudios Económicos 2011-07, El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Económicos.
    9. Sell, Friedrich L. & Öllinger, Michael, 2017. "On the distributional effects of minimum wages: A note," Working Papers in Economics 2017,3, Bundeswehr University Munich, Economic Research Group.
    10. Friedrich Leopold Sell & Michael Öllinger, 2017. "Hitting two birds with one stone: A tale on the (not so) secret miracle of minimum wages," Journal of Economic and Financial Studies (JEFS), LAR Center Press, vol. 5(3), pages 26-30, June.

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    Keywords

    Minimum Wage; Inequality; Informality; Mexico;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements

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