CWED Conference
Minimum Wages & Monopsony Power Conference 2025
MichaelReichFest
June 6, 2025 at UC Berkeley’s Alumni House and streaming via Zoom
We are pleased to announce the Minimum Wages and Monopsony Power conference, hosted by the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics (CWED) at IRLE.
The conference honors the career of Dr. Michael Reich, chair of CWED, professor of emeritus of Economics, and former director of IRLE, on his upcoming 80th birthday and after 51 years of teaching, research and service at UC Berkeley.
Schedule and Speakers
Coffee, tea and light breakfast.
Steve Raphael, UC Berkeley
Emmanuel Saez, UC Berkeley
Session Chair: Enrique Lopezlira, UC Berkeley
Ellora Derenoncourt, Princeton: “Voluntary Minimum Wages: Local Labor Market Effects of National Retailer Policies”
Justin Wiltshire, University of Victoria: “$15 Minimum Wages in California and New York”
Denis Sosinskiy, UC Davis: “Sectoral Wage-Setting: Effects of California’s $20 Fast Food Minimum Wage”
Session Chair: Todd Sorensen, UC Merced
Sydnee Caldwell, UC Berkeley: “Why Workers Stay: Pay Beliefs and Attachment”
Arin Dube, University of Massachusetts, Amherst: “The Unexpected Compression: Competition at Work in the Low Wage Labor Market”
Suresh Naidu, Columbia: “The Cold War and U.S. Labor Markets”
David Card, UC Berkeley: “Employer Wage-Setting in Low-Wage Labor Markets”
Session chair: Alexandra Hill, UC Berkeley
Krista Ruffini, Georgetown: “Minimum Wages and Employment Composition”
Anna Stansbury, MIT: “Minimum Wages and Workplace Injuries”
Jason Sockin, Cornell: “Minimum Wages and Job Amenities”
Session chair: Hilary Hoynes, UC Berkeley
James Parrott, The New School: “Gig Driver Pay Standards in New York, Washington, and Minnesota”
Dmitri Koustas, University of Chicago: “Mandated Pay Increases in the Gig Economy: Evidence from a Billion Rides in New York City”
Michael Reich, UC Berkeley: “Labor Market Segmentation or Monopsony Power? Then and Now”
Join us for refreshments in the patio.
Logistics
Meals will be provided throughout the day, followed by a reception. Note that space for the conference is limited, so early registration is encouraged. Stay tuned for the full conference details and program.
Visit the Alumni House website for driving directions, public transit options and parking information.
Accessibility Accomodations
If you require accommodation for a disability for effective communication (ASL interpreting/CART captioning, alternative media formats, etc.) or information about campus mobility access features in order to fully participate in this event, please contact Zi Lin Li at irle@berkeley.edu with as much advance notice as possible and at least 7-10 days in advance of the event.
Contact
Questions? Email irle@berkeley.edu.
Acknowledgments
This conference is co-sponsored by the Stone Center on Wealth and Income Inequality, the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, and the Department of Economics at UC Berkeley.