Textbook analysis tells us that in a competitive labor market, the introduction of a minimum wage above the competitive equilibrium wage will cause unemployment. This paper makes two contributions to the basic theory of the minimum wage. First, we analyze the effects of a higher minimum wage in...

This introductory essay for the journal Symposium presents an overview of issues related to ‘Q-Squared in Policy: the use of qualitative and quantitative methods of poverty analysis in decision-making’. We focus on issues raised on the supply side of data use, relating, inter alia to the...

sector employment, uncovered sector employment, and unemployment. The impact of these labor market adjustments on absolute poverty will depend on how the pattern of employment composition changes within households and on how income is shared within households. An earlier paper (Fields and...

How does labor market competitiveness frame the impact of greater labor productivity and lower inequality on poverty? Specifically, does greater competitiveness increase the impact of higher labor productivity and lower inequality on poverty reduction? In a simple model, we show that there is...

The effects of a minimum wage on employment and on poverty have been studied in the literature. This paper characterizes the poverty minimizing minimum wage, and shows how it depends on productivity, inequality and the degree of labor market competitiveness.

The turn to the use of mixed qualitative and quantitative (Q-Squared) methods in the analysis of poverty is a welcome development with large potential payoffs. While the benefits of mixing are not in doubt, the tensions involved in so doing have not received adequate attention. The aim of this...