author: Gilbert, A., Phimister, E., & Theodossiou, I.
year: 2001
title: The potential impact of the minimum wage in rural areas
publisher: Regional Studies
uri: https://doi.org/10.1080/00343400120084759
pubtype: article
discipline: economic

country: United Kingdom
period: 1991-1998
maxlength: 84
targeting: implicit
group: rural workers
data: national administrative panel survey British Household Panel Survey (BHPS)

design: observational
method: observational methods with counterfactual approach
sample: 5500
unit: household
representativeness: subnational, rural
causal: 1 # 0 correlation / 1 causal

theory:
limitations: has to assume no effects on employment
observation:
  - intervention: minimum wage
    institutional: 1
    structural: 0
    agency: 0
    inequality: spatial; income
    type: 0 # 0 vertical / 1 horizontal
    indicator: 1 # 0 absolute / 1 relative
    measures: Gini coeff
    findings: overall insignificant decrease of income inequality; policy will have spatial dimension with rural households more affected; larger positive impact for remote rural households
    channels: rural component depends on proximity to urban areas through having access to urban markets
    direction: -1 # -1 neg / 0 none / 1 pos
    significance: 1 # 0 nsg / 1 msg / 2 sg

notes:
annotation: | 
  A study looking at the distributional effects of introducing a minimum wage in Britain, with a specific spatial component.
  Overall it finds little effect on income inequality in the country.
  It finds that the effects on rural areas differ depending on their proximity to urban areas.
  While overall income inequality only decreases a small amount, the intervention results in effective targeting with remote rural households having around twice the reduction in inequality compared to others.
  Rural areas that are accessible to urban markets are less affected, with insignificant impacts to overall income inequality reduction.
  One limit of the study is that it has to assume no effects on employment after the enaction of the minimum wage for its results to hold.
