The consequences of minimum wage legislation

A policy which could raise wages in the low-wage labour market without job losses would be remarkable. Employers will respond to a wage floor not only by changing the employment level but by altering the other components of job packages. The'new economics'of the minimum wage largely ignores such effects.     

The effect of the minimum wage on employment and hours

This study examines the effect of minimum wage increases on teen hours of work and employment using both state- and individual-level panel data in the US. The state-level results indicate that minimum wage increases may lower employment rates but do not adversely affect hours among either working teens or all teens. The individual-level results do not indicate that minimum wage increases have a significant negative effect on hours worked by low-wage teens who are likely to be affected by a minimum wage increase. The results suggest that low-wage teens are less likely to remain employed, relative to high-wage teens, when the minimum wage is raised. However, this adverse effect disappears when these low-wage teens are compared to other low-wage teens during periods when the minimum wage did not increase.     

Endogenous monopsony and the perverse effect of the minimum wage in small firms

The minimum-wage rate has been introduced in many countries as a means of alleviating the poverty of the working poor. This paper shows, however, that an imperfectly enforced minimum-wage rate causes small firms to face an upward-sloping labor supply schedule. Since this turns these firms into endogenous monopsonists, the minimum-wage rate has the perverse effect of reducing employment in small firms as well as what these firms offer their workers. Thus, if there are only small firms, the minimum-wage rate makes all workers that would be employed in the absence of a minimum-wage rate worse off.     

The distribution of changes in manufacturing employment and the impact of the minimum wage

That employment for workers in durable goods industries is more sensitive to the pace of economic activity than for non-durable goods employees is not a surprising result. What is noteworthy about the conclusions of this study, however, is the manner in which increases in the minimum wage have altered the distribution of employment and sensitivity to short-run changes in employment of production workers in manufacturing industries. By focusing on the distribution of employment and how that distribution changes over the cycle, estimates of some aspects of the impact of the minimum wage that have not previously been analyzed have been developed.The evidence indicates that increases in the minimum wage over the period 1947–1975 have had a significant impact on employment patterns. Minimum wage legislation has had the effect of decreasing the share of projected employment and increasing vulnerability to cyclical changes in employment for the group of workers most ‘marginal’ to the work force low-wage industry employees. Hence, as a result of increased minimum wages, low-wage industry employees are able to obtain fewer jobs during periods of normal employment growth and their jobs are less secure in the face of short-run employment variations.Minimum wage legislation has undoubtedly resulted in higher wages for some of the relatively-low-productivity workers who were able to obtain employment than these workers would have received in its absence. The cost in terms of lost employment opportunities and cyclical vulnerability of jobs, however, has apparently been borne most heavily by low-wage industry employees. The primary beneficiaries of the shifts in the pattern of employment shares occasioned by minimum wage increases were high-wage industry workers, particularly in the ordnance, food, tobacco, and petroleum industries.     

The making of the German minimum wage: a case study of institutional change

In the more recent dualistic theories, Germany is cited as an example of a less solidaristic equilibrium, in which ‘producer coalitions’ between core workforces supposedly unaffected by deregulation and their employers prevented the introduction of a minimum wage. The present article shows that such an equilibrium never existed. Core workforces are being threatened by the outsourcing of jobs to the low‐wage sector. This threat created the breeding ground for a joint campaign by manufacturing and service unions for a minimum wage, which made it possible to amalgamate the unions' considerable resources at company level, their strength being derived from the German system of codetermination. Under pressure from the manufacturing unions in particular, the arrangements for the minimum wage follow, as far as possible, the traditions of free collective bargaining. As a result, the social partners in Germany have a considerably stronger influence on the minimum wage than those in the UK.     

Effects on earnings of the removal of direct discrimination in minimum wage rates: A validation of the Blinder decomposition

Prior to 1969, the Australian labour market was characterised by institutionalised gender wage discrimination. Wages for the majority of the workforce were set by government wage tribunals, and these tribunals set the wages of women at 75 percent of the male rate of pay. Following equal pay decisions in 1969 and 1972, the award rates of pay for all work were, by June 1975, to be determined without consideration of the sex of the worker. Examination of data from surveys conducted in 1973 and 1989 show that the removal of this institutionalised discrimination is captured by the Blinder (1973) and Oaxaca (1973) wage decompositions as a marked decline in the absolute value of the ‘discrimination’ component of the gender pay gap. The analyses also reveal some merit in the decomposition proposed by Cotton (1988).     

The effect of the minimum wage for tipped workers on firm strategy,employees and social welfare

Millions of workers derive much of their income from tips and are subject to the “tipped minimum wage” that differs from the regular minimum wage. This article examines the implications of the tipped minimum wage and shows that increasing it may lead restaurants to adopt a compulsory service charge in lieu of tipping to extract the economic rent enjoyed by waiters under tipping. Because servers are better off with tipping, this implies that increasing the tipped minimum wage in an attempt to increase servers' income may achieve the opposite result. Moreover, increasing the tipped minimum wage may reduce social welfare.     

Monotonicity of the (reversed) hazard rate of the (maximum) minimum in bivariate distributions

It is well known that in the case of independent random variables, the (reversed) hazard rate of the (maximum) minimum of two random variables is the sum of the individual (reversed) hazard rates and hence the onotonicity of the (reversed) hazard rate of the marginals is preserved by the monotonicity of the (reversed) hazard rate of the (maximum) minimum. However, for the bivariate distributions this property is not always preserved. In this paper, we study the monotonicity of the (reversed) hazard rate of the (maximum) minimum for two well known families of bivariate distributions viz the Farlie-Gumbel-Morgenstern (FGM) and Sarmanov family. In case of the FGM family, we obtain the (reversed) hazard rate of the (maximum) minimum and provide several examples in some of which the (reversed) hazard rate is monotonic and in others it is non-monotonic. In the case of Sarmanov family the (reversed) hazard rate of the (maximum) minimum may not be expressed in a compact form in general. We consider some examples to illustrate the procedureResearch of the second author is supported by a grant from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the research of the other two authors is partially supported by a travel grant from the Canadian American Center of the University of Maine     

A dynamic econometric model of agricultural wage determination in Bangladesh

Economists applied data from 1949-1950 and 1980-1981 to a new dynamic model to examine the dynamics of determinants of agricultural wages in Bangladesh, particularly the effect of changes in relative prices of rice (the staple food) and productivity. Just a 20% rise in the price or rice was passed on in the agricultural wage rate within the current year. About 50% was passed on in the long run, however. Therefore an increase in the price of rice reduced the rice purchasing power of agricultural wages in the short and long term. In fact, the importance given to rice in the long run real wage rate was almost the same as the mean proportion of expenditure that an agricultural laborer in Bangladesh committed to rice and closely related food staples. Thus arise in the price of rice in comparison to other goods had limited effects on the long run real wage in terms of the bundle of goods typically consumed, but very adverse effects in the short run placing a high burden on the rural poor. On the other hand, the long run real wage rate fell considerably between the mid 1960s-early 1980s when overall agricultural productivity increased. The economists pointed out that this increased productivity may not have lowered long run real wage rates, but instead mitigating factors may have contributed to this fall. For example, population growth, rising landlessness, and insufficient economic growth in nonagricultural sectors resulted in a consistent growth in the labor supply. In conclusion, this new dynamic model showed that Bangladesh cannot depend only on agricultural growth to reduce the poverty of farmers.     

Some sampling properties of minimum expected loss (MELO) estimators of structural coefficients

Some sampling properties of Zellner's (1978) MELO estimates of structural coefficients of linear simultaneous equation models are examined by a series of sampling experiments. The MELO estimates appear to have more pronounced biases in estimating structural coefficients than the 2SLS estimates. However, MELO is found to outperform 2SLS according to several criteria, including MSE and MAE in a wide range of situations generated by varying structural coefficients, the variance-covariance matrix of structural disturbances, and the sample size. The magnitude of absolute sampling errors, the estimation of the variance of structural disturbances, and the large-sample standard errors are also compared among OLS, 2SLS, and MELO.     

A structural analysis of the correlated random coefficient wage regression model

We estimate a dynamic programming model of schooling decisions in which the log wage regression function is set within a correlated random coefficient model. We show that estimates of the dynamic programming model can be used to obtain a number of treatment effects, including the local average treatment effect (LATE). However, unlike LATE parameters obtained in a standard IV framework, our LATE estimates are obtained without imposing separability between individual specific heterogeneity and schooling choices and are therefore not subject to a “monotonicity” restriction. We find that returns to schooling are characterized by a high degree of dispersion across individuals.     

Estimation of functions of population means and regression coefficients including structural coefficients: A minimum expected loss (MELO) approach

Parameter estimates that minimize the posterior expectation of generalized quadratic loss functions are derived for a wide range of estimation problems encountered in econometrics and statistics including estimation of structural coefficients of linear structural econometric models and reciprocals and ratios of population means and regression or reduced form coefficients. These MELO estimates are simple in form and possess finite sampling moments and risk in contrast to other estimators, including maximum likelihood estimators, that possess no finite moments and have infinite risk relative to quadratic loss functions. Additional finite and large sample properties of MELO estimates are derived and discussed.     

我国农村信用社法人治理结构初探

理顺农村信用社产权关系,完善农村信用社法人治理结构,是我国农村信用社在市场经济体制下保持稳健发展,转换经营机制的中心环节,也是建立现代企业制度的关键。文章分析了当前农村信用社产权问题,作者建议,从所有者、经营者、程序制度3个方面激活法人治理结构的机制。     

我国农村信用社法人治理结构初探

理顺农村信用社产权关系，完善农村信用社法人治理结构，是我国农村信用社在市场经济体制下保持稳健发展，转换经营机制的中心环节，也是建立现代企业制度的关键。文章分析了当前农村信用社产权问题，作者建议，从所有者、经营者、程序制度3个方面激活法人治理结构的机制。     

企业文化理论与实践的20个关系（上）

王成荣教授的新作《企业文化理论与实践的20个关系》一文,准确地抓住了当前我国企业文化建设中的突出问题,观点鲜明,论述简洁,具有较强的针对性。我刊从本期开始,分两期登载该文,希望大家深入研讨。     

Union or commonwealth? The balance of power and the organisational structure debate in the Dutch Federation of trade unions*

The stalemate that persists within the Dutch Federation of Trade Unions (FNV) concerning organisational restructuring is analysed from an interorganisational perspective. Data on power resources of the affiliated unions show that three large unions dominate decision making. Decreasing power of the federal organisation, bilateral arrangements and, possibly, amalgamations are expected.     

企业文化理论与实践的20个关系（下）

11.企业文化的底线与高境界企业文化有优劣之分,在优秀的部分中也有底线与高境界之别。所谓企业文化的底线,即企业在处理内部、外部关系时所坚守的理念和遵从的基本道德规范。这种底线是以不损害他人利益为标准的。打破这一底线,意味着企业像人丧失了基本人性一样丧失了企业性。所谓企业文化的高境界,即企业在处理内外关系时所追求的高尚道德规范。这种高境界主要体现为超越功利的、为他人的付出,是爱的给予与奉献。达成企业文化的高境界是企业文化建设的永恒目标。有些企业重视从物质和精神方面对企业文化建设的投入,能够达到企业文化的高…     

Devolution or (de)centralization of HRM function in European organizations

This article deals with the condition and changes of the HRM function in various European states. These changes have shown a shift of HRM tasks from HRM departments to managers themselves, and are according to the literature, this shift is known as devolution or decentralization. Our attention is focused on important factors in this process (from organizational ones, such as HRM strategies and policies, to more environmental ones, such as the sector or the state). Analysis shows that the country (as an institutional environment) sets the limits or encourages development towards devolution. HRM policy within the individual institutional context is of only secondary importance. Results show that country is a factor that fosters divergent tendencies and HRM policy accelerates convergence in HRM practice.