Effects of the Minimum Wage on Infant Health

Wehby, George L.; Dave, Dhaval; Kaestner, Robert

doi:10.1002/pam.22174

Cited by 46 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 88 publications

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“…Such progressive policies are generally associated with better health outcomes, but there are exceptions. For example research shows that increases in minimum wage are associated with reduced low birthweight and infant mortality and better mental health care outcomes ( Reeves et al, 2017 ; Wehby et al, 2020 ). Moreover, this form of more robust social support and/or welfare helps to explain the superior health outcomes of lower-SES adults in other high-income nations, where the impact of financial loss and/or instability on lower-educated adults is mitigated by economic policies that provide assistance in challenging economic circumstances ( National Research Council & Committee on Population, 2013 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Debts of despair: Education, financial losses, and precursors of deaths of despair

Fishman

Gutin

2021

SSM - Population Health

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Recent deaths of despair literature hypothesizes that financial losses are a key mechanism through which education is associated with higher risk for drug use, alcohol abuse, and suicidal ideation. However, few studies have empirically assessed the significance of this harmful pathway or compared it to other hypothesized explanations. Drawing on data from over 8000 respondents in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, this paper finds that lower education-levels are associated with heightened risk of drug use, painkiller use, frequent binge drinking, and suicidal ideation; in turn, decompositions reveal that financial losses mediate about 20 percent of the association between education with drug use and suicidal ideation. The results support a core assumption of the deaths of despair hypothesis—that financial losses among those with low education-levels drive the increase in harmful despair-associated behaviors, which often precede disease and mortality. Future research should extend this work by linking individual-level socioeconomic and health patterns with broader economic changes to better understand how individuals’ educational attainment interacts with macro-level structural factors to shape their vulnerability to despair-associated disease and death.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Debts of despair: Education, financial losses, and precursors of deaths of despair

Fishman

Gutin

2021

SSM - Population Health

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“…Another study examined 24 OECD countries for 31 years and found that higher minimum wages (with a 10% increase in the Kaitz index) led to an increase in life expectancy (by 0.44 years) and a reduction in death rates (by 21.95 per 100,000 individuals) [68]. Similarly, research in the U.S. found that improvements in birth weight [69,70] and postneonatal mortality [69] can be attained with higher minimum wages.…”

Section: Increase the Minimum Wagementioning

confidence: 99%

Addressing Inequality: The First Step Beyond COVID-19 and Towards Sustainability

et al. 2020

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The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted billions of lives across the world and has revealed and worsened the social and economic inequalities that have emerged over the past several decades. As governments consider public health and economic strategies to respond to the crisis, it is critical they also address the weaknesses of their economic and social systems that inhibited their ability to respond comprehensively to the pandemic. These same weaknesses have also undermined efforts to advance equality and sustainability. This paper explores over 30 interventions across the following nine categories of change that hold the potential to address inequality, provide all citizens with access to essential goods and services, and advance progress towards sustainability: (1) Income and wealth transfers to facilitate an equitable increase in purchasing power/disposable income; (2) broadening worker and citizen ownership of the means of production and supply of services, allowing corporate profit-taking to be more equitably distributed; (3) changes in the supply of essential goods and services for more citizens; (4) changes in the demand for more sustainable goods and services desired by people; (5) stabilizing and securing employment and the workforce; (6) reducing the disproportionate power of corporations and the very wealthy on the market and political system through the expansion and enforcement of antitrust law such that the dominance of a few firms in critical sectors no longer prevails; (7) government provision of essential goods and services such as education, healthcare, housing, food, and mobility; (8) a reallocation of government spending between military operations and domestic social needs; and (9) suspending or restructuring debt from emerging and developing countries. Any interventions that focus on growing the economy must also be accompanied by those that offset the resulting compromises to health, safety, and the environment from increasing unsustainable consumption. This paper compares and identifies the interventions that should be considered as an important foundational first step in moving beyond the COVID-19 pandemic and towards sustainability. In this regard, it provides a comprehensive set of strategies that could advance progress towards a component of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10 to reduce inequality within countries. However, the candidate interventions are also contrasted with all 17 SDGs to reveal potential problem areas/tradeoffs that may need careful attention.

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“…Some of the strongest existing research on health outcomes associated with wage increases hint at what could happen if the federal minimum wage were increased to $15 per hour. Researchers have observed associations between increased wages and decreases in both suicide mortality 1 and hypertension, 2 better birth outcomes, 3 and lower rates of sexually transmitted infections among women. 4 Some research suggests that wage increases can improve health by influencing the individual behaviors that affect health, such as increased fruit and vegetable consumption, or even better mental health as a result of increased leisure time or job satisfaction.…”

Section: Effects Of a $15 Minimum Wagementioning

confidence: 99%

Raising the Minimum Wage and Public Health

Avila

Frakt

2021

JAMA Health Forum

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Some states, and perhaps soon the federal government, are considering increasing the minimum wage. President Joe Biden voiced his support for raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour while on the campaign trail, and also included it in his recent economic stimulus package. A ballot initiative in Florida to raise the statewide minimum by 2026 passed in November 2020. While discussions around raising the minimum wage typically center on the economic benefits and potential labor force impacts that would affect low-wage workers, there are also population health benefits to consider. These range from better physical and mental health outcomes to indirect influences on individual behaviors that affect health-but the existing research is limited at best.However, what we do know suggests that raising the minimum wage may not be uniformly helpful.Should policy makers pursue raising the minimum wage, it will be key to do so in a way that does not exacerbate long-standing inequities in both income and health.

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Effects of the Minimum Wage on Infant Health

Cited by 46 publications

References 88 publications

Debts of despair: Education, financial losses, and precursors of deaths of despair

Debts of despair: Education, financial losses, and precursors of deaths of despair

Addressing Inequality: The First Step Beyond COVID-19 and Towards Sustainability

Raising the Minimum Wage and Public Health

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