Publications by Anna Godoey
Parental Labor Supply: Evidence from Minimum Wage Changes
November 15, 2021 • Working Papers • By Anna Godoey, Michael Reich, Jesse Wursten and Sylvia A. Allegretto
Abstract We analyze effects of the minimum wage on the labor supply of parents of young children. Distributional difference-in-differences and event study models document a sharp rise in employment rates…
Are Minimum Wage Effects Greater in Low-Wage Areas?
January 28, 2021 • Scholarly Publications • By Anna Godoey and Michael Reich
Industrial Relations, January 2021. [accordions] [accordion title="Abstract" load="hide"] Empirical work on the minimum wage typically estimates effects averaged across high- and low-wage areas. Low-wage labor markets could potentially be less able to absorb minimum wage increases, in turn leading to more negative employment effects. In this article, we examine minimum wage effects in low-wage counties, where relative minimum wage ratios reach as high as 0.82, well beyond the state-based ratios in extant studies. Using data from the American Community Survey, the Quarterly Workforce Indicators, and the Quarterly Census on Employment and Wages, we implement event study and difference-in-differences methods, estimating average causal effects for all events in our sample and separately for areas with lower and higher impacts. We find positive wage effects, especially in high-impact counties, but do not detect adverse effects on employment, weekly hours, or annual weeks worked. We do not find negative employment effects among women, Blacks, and/or Hispanics. In high-impact counties, we find substantial declines in household and child poverty. These results inform policy debates about providing exemptions to a $15 federal minimum wage in low-wage areas. [/accordion] [/accordions]
Can Labor Market Policies Reduce Deaths of Despair?
October 9, 2020 • Scholarly Publications • By William H. Dow, Anna Godoey, Christopher A. Lowenstein and Michael Reich
Journal of Health Economics, October 2020. [accordions] [accordion title="Abstract" load="hide"] Do minimum wages and the earned income tax credit (EITC) mitigate rising “deaths of despair?” We leverage state variation in these policies over time to estimate event study and difference-in-differences models of deaths due to drug overdose, suicide, and alcohol-related causes. Our causal models find no significant effects on drug or alcohol-related mortality, but do find significant reductions in non-drug suicides. A 10 percent minimum wage increase reduces non-drug suicides among low-educated adults by 2.7 percent, and the comparable EITC figure is 3.0 percent. Placebo tests and event-study models support our causal research design. Increasing both policies by 10 percent would likely prevent a combined total of more than 700 suicides each year. [/accordion] [/accordions]
Are Minimum Wage Effects Greater in Low-Wage Areas?
September 25, 2020 • Working Papers • By Anna Godoey and Michael Reich
Abstract Empirical work on the minimum wage typically estimate effects averaged across high and low wage areas. Low wage labor markets could potentially be less able to absorb minimum wage…
Impacts of Hospital Wait Time on Health and Labor Supply
November 12, 2019 • Working Papers • By Anna Godoey, Venke Furre Haaland, Ingrid Huitfeldt and Mark Votruba
Abstract We estimate the effects of wait time for orthopedic surgery on health and labor market outcomes of Norwegian workers. Our identification strategy exploits variation in wait times for surgery…
Minimum Wage Effects in Low-Wage Areas
July 2, 2019 • Working Papers • By Anna Godoey and Michael Reich
Working Paper #106-19 [accordions] [accordion title="Abstract" load="hide"]A proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2024 would increase the relative minimum wage – the ratio to the national median wage-- to about .68. In Alabama and Mississippi, our two lowest-wage states, the relative minimum wage would rise to .77 and .85, respectively. Yet research on state-level minimum wage policies does not extend beyond $10; the highest studied state-level relative minimum wage is .59. To close this gap we study minimum wage effects in counties and PUMAs where relative minimum wage ratios already reach as high as .82. Using ACS data since 2005 and 51 events, we sort counties and PUMAs according to their relative minimum wages and bites. We report average results for all the events in our sample, and separately for those with lower and higher impacts. We find positive wage effects but do not detect adverse effects on employment, weekly hours or annual weeks worked. We do not find negative employment effects among women, blacks and/or Hispanics. We do find substantial declines in household and child poverty. [/accordion] [/accordions]