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The impact of minimum wages on wages and employment: evidence from Greece

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  • Georgiadis, Andreas
  • Kaplanis, Ioannis
  • Monastiriotis, Vassilis

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of minimum wages on wages and employment in Greece between 2009 and 2017. Our main contribution is the examination of the effects of minimum wages under a dramatically changing context, as during this period Greece has experienced the deepest recession in its recent history, extensive labour market reforms, and several changes in the minimum wage, including a large decrease. Employing a unique administrative panel matched employer-employee data set and a range of estimators, such as difference-in-differences, fixed effects, and Instrumental Variables, we find that minimum wages have a positive and significant effect on individual and firm-level wages with significant positive wage spill-overs extending, sometimes, above the median wage, but no systematic employment effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Georgiadis, Andreas & Kaplanis, Ioannis & Monastiriotis, Vassilis, 2018. "The impact of minimum wages on wages and employment: evidence from Greece," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 91959, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:91959
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    Cited by:

    1. Georgios Gatopoulos & Alexandros Louka & Ioannis Polycarpou & Nikolaos Vettas, 2021. "Evaluating the Impact of Labour Market Reforms in Greece during 2010-2018," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 156, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    2. Bechlioulis, Alexandros & Chletsos, Michael, 2021. "The differentiated effects of minimum wage reforms on unemployment Evidence from the Greek labor market," MPRA Paper 109327, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Laliotis, Ioannis, 2019. "Did the economic adjustment programmes deliver wage flexibility in Greece?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102653, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    minimum wage; wages; employment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N0 - Economic History - - General
    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

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