New evidence that raising the minimum wage can boost workforce productivity. That means that paying workers more need not come at the cost of fewer jobs or lower profits. Consumers win too. My column in the NYT. http://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/18/business/coronavirus-minimum-wage-increase.html

The innovation of @KristaRuffini's study on nursing homes is to measure impacts of min. wage hikes on service quality. Higher min wage leads to fewer safety violations and fewer medical complications like bedsores — and lower mortality among patients. 2/n

How does paying staff more lead to nursing home patients living longer? Some ways: Lower employee turnover and perhaps more effort by staff who want to hold on to the now-more-attractive job (i.e., efficiency wage). 3/n

Nursing home profits didn't fall b/c costs were passed on to clients. That's a reason the results might not extend to other industries. But, importantly, this isn't just about inelastic demand: Customers were paying more for better care. 4/n

Research by Coviello, @ErikaDeserra, & Persico finds that higher min wage —> better job performance for dept store salespeople, especially during economic downturns like now. That makes sense — people really want to hold onto their job when the labor market is weak. 5/n

The recession has slowed momentum to raise the minimum wage, e.g., Virginia delayed its min wage hike for fear of hurting businesses or jobs.

But if a higher min wage boosts workforce productivity, that changes the equation. https://twitter.com/seema_econ/status/1273668202053029889