The impact of the minimum wage on health. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • This study evaluates the effect of minimum wage on risky health behaviors, healthcare access, and self-reported health. We use data from the 1993-2015 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, and employ a difference-in-differences strategy that utilizes time variation in new minimum wage laws across U.S. states. Results suggest that the minimum wage increases the probability of being obese and decreases daily fruit and vegetable intake, but also decreases days with functional limitations while having no impact on healthcare access. Subsample analyses reveal that the increase in weight and decrease in fruit and vegetable intake are driven by the older population, married, and whites. The improvement in self-reported health is especially strong among non-whites, females, and married.

published proceedings

  • Int J Health Econ Manag

altmetric score

  • 16.048

author list (cited authors)

  • Andreyeva, E., & Ukert, B.

citation count

  • 25

complete list of authors

  • Andreyeva, Elena||Ukert, Benjamin

publication date

  • December 2018