Effects of the minimum wage on child health

George Labib Wehby; Robert Kaestner; Wei Lyu; Dhaval Dave

doi:10.3386/w26691

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Effects of the minimum wage on child health

Working paper

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Effects of the minimum wage on child health

George Labib Wehby, Robert Kaestner, Wei Lyu and Dhaval Dave

NBER working paper series, Vol.26691

National Bureau of Economic Research

01/2020

DOI: 10.3386/w26691

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https://www.nber.org/papers/w26691View

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Abstract

Effects of the minimum wage on labor market outcomes have been extensively debated and analyzed. Less studied, however, are other consequences of the minimum wage that stem from changes in a household's income and labor supply. We examine the effects of the minimum wage on child health. We employ data from the National Survey of Children's Health in conjunction with a difference-in-differences research design. We estimate effects of changes in minimum wage throughout childhood. We find evidence that an increase in the minimum wage throughout childhood is associated with a large improvement in child health. A particularly interesting finding is that much of the benefits of a higher minimum wage are associated with the period between birth and aged 5

Child Development

Child Welfare

Economics

Econometric models

Economic aspects

Health aspects

Labor supply

Management

Minimum wage

Details

Title: Subtitle: Effects of the minimum wage on child health
Creators: George Labib Wehby
Robert Kaestner
Wei Lyu
Dhaval Dave
Contributors: National Bureau of Economic Research (Author)
Resource Type: Working paper
Publication Details: NBER working paper series, Vol.26691
DOI: 10.3386/w26691
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research; Cambridge, Massachusetts
Number of pages: 49 pages
Grant note: The study was funded by a Policies-For-Action (P4A) grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). The authors thank Jason Fletcher, David Simon, Hope Corman, and seminar participants at the RWJF P4A research webinar, at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (New England Studies Group), University of Chicago, and at Hunter College, City University of New York for providing helpful comments on the paper. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Language: English
Date posted: 01/2020
Date updated: 12/2020
Academic Unit: Preventive and Community Dentistry; Health Management and Policy; Economics; Public Policy Center (Archive)
Record Identifier: 9984221642902771

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