Institutional Changes and Rising Wage Inequality: Is There a Linkage?
分析了1980年代美国最低工资实际值下降、去工会化和经济放松管制对工资不平等加剧的影响，发现这些制度变迁解释了约三分之一的工资不平等上升。
In this paper, the authors analyze the role of three institutional changes--the decline in the real value of the minimum wage, deunionization, and economic deregulation--on the rise in wage inequality in the United States during the 1980s. They argue that about a third of the increase in male and female wage inequality can be traced to these institutional changes. Deunionization had a significant effect on the rise in inequality for men, while the minimum wage is what matters most for women. The authors find the direct impact of economic deregulation to be comparatively small.