RE: “Invited Commentary: Methods for Estimating Effects of Minimum Wages on Health”

Citation

Renson, Audrey; Chung, Esther O.; & Lodge, Evans K. (2020). RE: "Invited Commentary: Methods for Estimating Effects of Minimum Wages on Health". American Journal of Epidemiology, 189(12), 1637-1638.

Abstract

In a recent commentary, Leigh drew on foundational economics research to advise epidemiologists studying the health effects of the minimum wage. We broadly agree with Dr. Leigh that emulating a hypothetical randomized trial is a useful starting point in minimum-wage research, serving to clarify the target parameter and specify relevant details of the interventions and populations to which a study is intended to apply. While Leigh never explicitly defines an intervention or target population for this hypothetical trial, his description of the ideal study provides enough detail to impute these points to illustrate where we disagree. To summarize Leigh’s advice, the “best” approach is to specify a target population of workers whose wages would actually change after a minimum-wage increase and an intervention reflecting a contrast between their current distribution of wages and universal exposure to a new minimum wage.

URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwaa117

Reference Type

Journal Article

Year Published

2020

Journal Title

American Journal of Epidemiology

Author(s)

Renson, Audrey
Chung, Esther O.
Lodge, Evans K.

Article Type

ORCiD

Renson - 0000-0003-1603-2587
Chung, E - 0000-0002-2866-949X
Lodge - 0000-0002-2222-5441