Economic Aspects of Subjective Attitudes towards the Minimum Wage Reform

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research at DIW BerlinThis series presents research findings based either directly on data from the German SocioEconomic Panel study (SOEP) or using SOEP data as part of an internationally comparable data set (e.g. CNEF, ECHP, LIS, LWS, CHER/PACO). SOEP is a truly multidisciplinary household panel study covering a wide range of social and behavioral sciences: economics, sociology, psychology, survey methodology, econometrics and applied statistics, educational science, political science, public health, behavioral genetics, demography, geography, and sport science.The decision to publish a submission in SOEPpapers is made by a board of editors chosen by the DIW Berlin to represent the wide range of disciplines covered by SOEP. There is no external referee process and papers are either accepted or rejected without revision. Papers appear in this series as works in progress and may also appear elsewhere. They often represent preliminary studies and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be requested from the author directly.Any opinions expressed in this series are those of the author(s) and not those of DIW Berlin.Research disseminated by DIW Berlin may include views on public policy issues, but the institute itself takes no institutional policy positions. AbstractDespite some skepticism among experts about the effects of a minimum wage, there is remarkably widespread public support for such policies. Using representative survey data from 2015 and 2016, we investigate the subjective attitudes driving public support for Germany's recent minimum wage reform. We find that socio-economic characteristics and political orientations explain a minor part of the variation in attitudes, whereas beliefs that the reform will bring positive redistributional effects and perceptions that it will help people to maintain or improve their overall economic situation (measured by living standards, income, hours worked, and job security) play a major role.JEL-Classification: D71, E64, J38.

The Causal Effects of the Minimum Wage Introduction in Germany – An Overview

“…Additionally, workers report receiving payment in kind and suffering a deduction of costs for working materials from their wages (Bruttel et al ., ; Burauel et al ., ; Mindestlohnkommission, 2016b). As Fedorets and Schröder () find, two‐thirds of the affected respondents of a special SOEP omnibus survey had either directly experienced avoidance strategies or knew someone who had.…”

“…What seems to be more imminent is to ensure that all eligible employees also receive the current minimum wage. After all, public support of the reform is high and even increased after the introduction (see Fedorets and Schr€ oder, 2017) and now the wage floor has to be fully enforced.…”

The Impact of Minimum Wages on Well-Being: Evidence from a Quasi-experiment in Germany

“…Until today it remains disputable whether minimum wages reduce employment (Dolton et al, 2015;Meer and West, 2016;Neumark et al, 2014; see also the review by Neumark and Wascher, 2007). Minimum wages are associated with positive effects on redistribution in favor of low earners, in particular when hourly wages are considered (Caliendo et al, 2017b;Fedorets and Schroeder, 2017). They have also been found to improve mental health outcomes (Reeves et al, 2017).…”