| This dissertation examines the repercussions of minimum wage policy and gender wage differentials in the distribution of wages. Chapter 1 uses a semiparametric model to measure the impact of intertemporal minimum wage changes on wage inequality. The model extends the literature by incorporating explicitly the employment effects of minimum wage changes in a semiparametric framework. The results suggest that, contrary to the claim for the United States, in a developing country such as Colombia, the inclusion of employment effects can significantly influence both the magnitude and the direction of resulting changes in wage inequality. In particular, failure to include employment effects, in this case, would yield a misleading conclusion: that over the 1978--1999 period the minimum wage increase caused a decrease in wage inequality. In fact, during this time frame, the negative employment effects of the minimum wage could have caused wage inequality to increase.;Chapter 2, extends Chapter 1 by accounting for the ripple effects that minimum wage changes may have in the wage distribution. Using estimates of the elasticities of wages and employment to changes in the minimum wage in Colombia and Brazil, the estimates suggest that the net (immediate) impact on inequality of increasing the minimum wage may depend on the distributional weights used for inequality measurement. Reranking effects, associated with job losses, may dominate gap-narrowing effects, associated with wage gains, when high weights are placed on workers with low earnings.;Chapter 3 approaches wage differentials from a production side model. Assuming that labor is as factor of production, results of this find empirical evidence from the U.S. and Colombia labor markets suggesting that shifts in relative supply of workers of the opposite sex, particularly among unskilled workers in the manufacturing industry, can explain the change of the gender wage differential over time. In addition, the estimates indicate that differences in relative gender supply of labor can reduce female productivity relative to that of males by up to 30 percent. |
