• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.1-30
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• 2021

The objective of our study is investigating the effects of the minimum wage on a producer price index (PPI) and selected restaurant menu prices. As an identification strategy, we exploit inter-industrial and inter-regional variations in the share of workers who are affected by the minimum wage. Estimation results show a significant relationship between the share of workers affected by the minimum wage and prices. Specifically, a PPI and selected restaurant menu prices tend to rise by 0.77~1.68% and 0.16~1.86%, respectively as the share of workers affected by the minimum wage increase by 1%p. These estimates imply that during the period of our analysis 0.82~3.01% and 4.45~47.04% of overall changes in a PPI and selected restaurant food prices are associated with the adjustment in the minimum wage.