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Minimum wage and restaurant hygiene violations: Evidence from Seattle
Author(s) -
Chakrabarti Subir K.,
Devaraj Srikant,
Patel Pankaj C.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
managerial and decision economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.288
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1099-1468
pISSN - 0143-6570
DOI - 10.1002/mde.3215
Subject(s) - hygiene , minimum wage , wage , demographic economics , business , environmental health , economics , labour economics , medicine , pathology
We study the association between the minimum wage and food establishment hygiene violations between Seattle (the treated city) and Bellevue (the control city), both cities located in King County and sharing the same health inspection department. An increase in the real minimum wage of $0.25 is associated with an increase of at least 8% in total and less severe (blue) hygiene violation scores for food establishments in Seattle. We find mixed support for the increase in more severe (red) violations. A decline in employment with an increase in minimum wage could be driving the increases in hygiene violations.