Minimum wages and social policy : lessons from developing countries

XVI, 132 S.

graph. Darst.

Executive summary -- Introduction -- Report findings -- Issues for policy discussion -- Introduction -- Minimum wage debates in the region -- The objective of the report and methodology -- Report organization -- Context & framework -- The historical and social justice perspective - Birth and evolution of the minimum wage -- Theoretical underpinnings - The classical economic view -- Two-sector economies-models with a "covered" and "uncovered" sector -- Empirical evidence from the OECD countries -- The Latin American research -- Minimum wage institutions in LAC: what are they and who earns them? -- What is a minimum wage? -- Who earns the minimum wage? -- How high is the minimum wage in Latin America and the Caribbean? -- The worker: how do minimum wages affect wages and employment? -- Minimum wages are somewhat binding -- Minimum wage policies increases wages throughout the wage distribution -- Minimum wages increase unemployment -- Sub-national minimum wages are standard practice -- The households: the minimum wage as an anti-poverty tool -- The value of the minimum wage is below the household subsistence level -- The minimum wage decreases poverty rates, but does not help the most poor -- High minimum wages increases household income inequality -- The state: the minimum wage implications for public expenditures -- The minimum wage may have large impacts on the public sector wage bill -- An increase in the minimum wage can have substantial impacts on the cost of social benefits -- The international community: lessons from their experiences -- Setting and managing minimum wages -- Enforcement -- Report conclusions and policy considerations -- Report conclusions -- Considerations for policy debates -- References -- Annex 1: Source of data for cross-country comparisons -- Annex II: Kernel density plots -- Annex III: Summary of literature -- Annex IV: Research methodologies

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