Minimum Wage and Real Wage Inequality: Evidence from Pass-Through to Retail Prices
利用商店级扫描数据，研究发现最低工资每提高10%，杂货店价格上升0.6%至0.8%，且对贫困地区影响更大，揭示了最低工资通过价格传导影响实际工资不平等的新渠道。
Abstract This paper considers the impact of the minimum wage on both labor and product markets using detailed store-level scanner data. I provide empirical evidence that a 10% increase in the minimum wage raises grocery store prices by 0.6% to 0.8% and suggest that the minimum wage not only raises labor costs but also affects product demand, especially in poorer regions. This points to novel channels of heterogeneity in pass-through that have distributional consequences, with key implications for real wage inequality. I also find that price rigidity within retail chains ameliorates these effects, reducing the pass-through elasticity for retail prices by about 60%.