The Optimal Graduated Minimum Wage and Social Welfare
Transitions through the Labor Market
ISBN: 978-1-78756-462-6, eISBN: 978-1-78756-461-9
Publication date: 6 August 2018
Abstract
This chapter analyzes the effects of introducing a graduated minimum wage in a model with optimal income taxation in which a government seeks to maximize social welfare. It shows that the optimal graduated minimum wage increases social welfare by increasing the low-productivity workers’ consumption and bringing it closer to the first-best. The chapter also describes how the graduated minimum wage in a social welfare optimum depends on important economy characteristics such as the government’s revenue needs, the social welfare weight of low-productivity workers, and the numbers and productivities of the different types of workers.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgment
We thank the editor and the anonymous referees for helpful suggestions.
Citation
Danziger, E. and Danziger, L. (2018), "The Optimal Graduated Minimum Wage and Social Welfare", Transitions through the Labor Market (Research in Labor Economics, Vol. 46), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 55-72. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0147-912120180000046002
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018 Emerald Publishing Limited