The Race Between Education, Technology, and the Minimum Wage

2025/02/18 by Jonathan Vogel · 1 voice · 2 citations
Social Sciences · #Demographic economics #Economics #Education Systems and Policy #Gender studies #Labour economics #Race (biology) #Sociology #Wage

paper · doi:10.1093/qje/qjaf014

published in The Quarterly Journal of Economics 140(3), 1857-1899 (Oxford University Press)

openalex publication_date 2025/02/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21

Abstract

ABSTRACT What is the effect of the real minimum wage on wages and inequality? I develop a theory that nests the race between education and technology. The theory predicts that the effect of changes in minimum wages is initially small but grows over time. I present empirical evidence of these dynamic effects: the elasticity of real wages grows substantially over a three-year period. I show that minimum wages help rationalize a considerable decline in real wages of low-education workers in the 1980s and play a role in shaping the evolution of the U.S. college premium.

Citations

• Changes in Relative Wages, 1963-1987: Supply and Demand Factors
• Can Falling Supply Explain the Rising Return to College for Younger Men? A Cohort-Based Analysis
• The Effect of Minimum Wages on Low-Wage Jobs*

Discussions

• Recently accepted by #QJE, “The Race Between Education, Technology, and the Minimum Wage,” by Jonathan Vogel (@jonathanvogel.bsky.social): doi.org/10.1093/qje/... [bsky, 14 points, 0 comments]

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