Fairness Perceptions and Reservation Wages?The Behavioral Effects of Minimum Wage Laws*
实验室实验发现，最低工资的临时引入会持久提高工人的保留工资，导致最低工资取消后企业被迫支付更高工资，从而削弱取消最低工资的就业促进效果。
In a laboratory experiment we show that minimum wages have significant and lasting effects on subjects' reservation wages.The temporary introduction of a minimum wage leads to a rise in subjects' reservation wages which persists even after the minimum wage has been removed.Firms are therefore forced to pay higher wages after the removal of the minimum wage than before its introduction.As a consequence, the employment effects of removing the minimum wage are significantly smaller than are the effects of its introduction.The impact of minimum wages on reservation wages may also explain the anomalously low utilization of subminimum wages if employers are given the opportunity of paying less than a minimum wage previously introduced.It may further explain why employers often increase workers' wages after an increase in the minimum wage by an amount exceeding that necessary for compliance with the higher minimum.At a more general level, our results suggest that economic policy may affect people's behavior by shaping the perception of what is a fair transaction and by creating entitlement effects.