The minimum wage has become an accepted way to tackle the extremes of low pay in many countries, but there is considerable variability in the way minimum wages are set around the world. Methods include formulas, government rate setting, union bargained rates, and rates recommended by an expert...

In two papers, Meyer and Wise (1983a,b) present an ingenious method for estimating the effect of minimum wage rates on wages and employment using data based only on the observed cross-sectional distribution of wages. They, and others who have used this method, have generally found that the...

The minimum wage has never been as high on the political agenda as it is today, with politicians in Germany, the UK, the US, and other OECD countries calling for substantial increases in the rate. One reason for the rising interest is the growing consensus among economists and policymakers that...

I study the dynamic structure of male wages in Great Britain using the New Earnings Survey Panel from 1975-95. Computing auto-covariances of individual wages by cohort I find evidence of a permanent component of earnings that increases over the life cycle and a highly persistent, serially...