Minimum Wage

Book:

• The Wage Standard: What’s Wrong in the Labor Market and How to Fix It — Penguin Random House, 2026. See the book page for events, press, and reviews.

Research Papers:

• “Labor Market Effects of California’s $20 Fast-Food Minimum Wage” NBER Working Paper No. 35171 (May 2026).

• “Minimum Wages in the 21st Century” with Attila Lindner. Handbook of Labor Economics Chapter.
  • NBER Working Paper

• “Seeing Beyond the Trees: Using Machine Learning to Estimate the Impact of Minimum Wages on Labor Market Outcomes” with Doruk Cengiz, Attila Lindner, and David Zentler-Munro. (February 2021) NBER Working Paper No. 28399. Under review, invited for special volume at Journal of Labor Economics.

• “City Limits: What do Local-Area Minimum Wages Do?” with Attila Lindner. 2021. Journal of Economic Perspectives .

• “The effect of minimum wages on low-wage jobs” with Doruk Cengiz, Attila Lindner and Ben Zipperer. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2019 (Vol. 134, Issue 3). Older version from February 2018.
  • • Research Brief
    • Media coverage: US News, CNN, Slate, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post (2), Boston Globe, BBC, NPR, Vox.com

• “Minimum Wages and the Distribution of Family Incomes”. American Economic Journal – Applied. (2019). (Older versions: February 2017, December 2013.
  • WCEG Research Brief
  • Press coverage: Vox.com, Bloomberg, Huffington Post, New York Times, NPR
  • Replication package

• “Credible Research Designs for Minimum Wage Studies: A Response to Neumark, Salas and Wascher” with Sylvia Allegretto, Michael Reich and Ben Zipperer. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 2017 (Vol. 70, Issue 3).

• “Pooling Multiple Case Studies using Synthetic Controls: An Application to Minimum Wage Policies” IZA Discussion Paper 8944 with Ben Zipperer (March 2015)

• “Minimum Wage Shocks, Employment Flows, and Labor Market Frictions” with T. William Lester and Michael Reich. Journal of Labor Economics (forthcoming). This version: Oct 2014. Nov 2013 version here. April 2012 version here. IZA Discussion Paper from 2011 available here.

• “Minimum Wages and the Distribution of Family Incomes” (January 2014)

• “Minimum Wages and Aggregate Job Growth: Causal Effect or Statistical Artifact?” IZA Discussion Paper 7674 (October 2013).

• “Credible Research Designs for Minimum Wage Studies” with Sylvia Allegretto, Michael Reich and Ben Zipperer. IZA Discussion Paper 7638 (September 2013). Older version from June 2013 available here.

• “Do Minimum Wages Really Reduce Teen Employment? Accounting for Heterogeneity and Selectivity in State Panel Data” with Sylvia Allegretto and Michael Reich. Industrial Relations, March 2011.

• “Minimum Wage Effects Across State Borders: Estimates Using Contiguous Counties” with T. William Lester and Michael Reich. Review of Economics and Statistics, 2010 (Vol.92, Issue 4).

• “The economic impacts of a citywide minimum wage” with Suresh Naidu and Michael Reich. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, July 2007.

Essays, Op-eds, and Blog Posts:

• “How to Save the Middle Class” — The Boston Globe, May 14, 2026.

• “The Affordability Crisis Is a Wage Crisis” — Washington Monthly, April 28, 2026.

• “Oklahoma voters consider raising minimum wage to $15” — The Journal Record, April 28, 2026.

• “America’s Cost-of-Living Crisis Is Really a Pay Crisis” — TIME, April 10, 2026.

• “These Republican-leaning States Went Big on Minimum Wages. Here’s What Happened to their Restaurant and Retail Jobs.” — Substack, April 8, 2026.

• “Impacts of Minimum Wages: Review of International Evidence” – Report prepared for Her Majesty’s Treasury (UK), 2019.

• “Making a Case for a Higher Minimum Wage” – Essay in The Milken Review, 2019.

• Minimum wages and the distribution of family incomes in the United States [WCEG Research Brief] April 2017

• CITY LIMITS: US city minimum wages and their relevance for the UK [Resolution Foundation chapter] March 2015

• Designing Thoughtful Minimum Wage Policy at the State and Local Levels [Hamilton Project Report] June 2014

• “Finally a Chance for Facts to Decide.” [NY Times online Op-ed]

• The Minimum We Can Do [NY Times Op-ed]

• Testimony on Minimum Wages for the Senate HELP Committee March 14, 2013

• Casual versus Causal Inference: Time series edition [Blog post]

• The Poverty of Minimum Wage “Facts” [Blog post]

• Separating signal from noise: a review of 12 major studies on minimum wages and poverty [Blog post]

• Minimum Wages and Job Growth: a Statistical Artifact [Blog post]

Press & Podcasts on Minimum Wages:

• NPR Planet Money — “The hidden power keeping wages low” (April 21, 2026)
• ProMarket — “How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Minimum Wage” (review by Matthew Lucky, April 2, 2026)
• The American Prospect — “What, Exactly, Is a Fair Wage?” (April 17, 2026)
• Capitalisn’t (Zingales & McLean) — “The Real Cause of Wage Stagnation”
• Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer (April 7, 2026)