# Literature Review: [TOPIC]

## Search Strategy

**Databases:** EconLit, NBER, Google Scholar, SSRN
**Date range:** 2010-2024
**Search terms:** 
- ("minimum wage" OR "wage floor") AND (employment OR jobs)
- ("minimum wage") AND ("difference-in-differences" OR "DiD")

**Inclusion criteria:**
- Peer-reviewed or NBER working papers
- Focused on [specific outcome]
- Uses causal identification strategy

---

## Seminal Papers

### Card and Krueger (1994)
**Citation:** Card, D., & Krueger, A. B. (1994). Minimum Wages and Employment: A Case Study of the Fast-Food Industry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. *American Economic Review*, 84(4), 772-793.

**Research Question:** What is the effect of minimum wage increases on employment?

**Data & Method:** 
- DiD comparing NJ (treatment) to PA (control)
- Survey of fast-food restaurants before/after NJ minimum wage increase

**Key Findings:**
- No negative employment effect found
- Employment slightly increased in NJ relative to PA

**Contribution:** Challenged conventional view; pioneered quasi-experimental methods in labor economics

**Limitations:**
- Single state, short time horizon
- Potential survey response bias

---

### Cengiz et al. (2019)
**Citation:** Cengiz, D., Dube, A., Lindner, A., & Zipperer, B. (2019). The Effect of Minimum Wages on Low-Wage Jobs. *Quarterly Journal of Economics*, 134(3), 1405-1454.

**Research Question:** Do minimum wage increases destroy jobs or compress the wage distribution?

**Data & Method:**
- Bunching estimator using 138 minimum wage events
- Examine employment distribution around minimum wage

**Key Findings:**
- Jobs below the new minimum wage disappear
- But replaced by jobs just above the minimum
- No significant overall employment loss

**Contribution:** Novel bunching methodology; large-scale evidence

---

## Synthesis: What We Know

| Finding | Evidence Quality | Consensus Level |
|---------|-----------------|-----------------|
| Small minimum wage increases have minimal employment effects | Strong (multiple RCTs/quasi-experiments) | High |
| Effects may be heterogeneous by region | Medium | Growing |
| Large increases (e.g., $15) less studied | Limited | Low |

## Research Gaps

1. **Mechanism:** How do firms absorb higher labor costs? (Prices, profits, productivity?)
2. **Long-run effects:** Most studies focus on 1-2 years
3. **Geographic heterogeneity:** Do effects differ in low vs. high cost-of-living areas?
4. **Spillovers:** Effects on workers earning above minimum wage

## Connection to Your Project

Your study of [SPECIFIC QUESTION] can contribute by:
- [How your work fills a gap]
- [What new data/method you bring]

## [Author(s)] ([Year])

**Title:** [Full title]

**Published in:** [Journal/Working Paper Series]

**Research Question:** [One sentence]

**Data:**
- Source: [Dataset name]
- Period: [Years]
- Sample: [N observations, unit of analysis]

**Identification Strategy:** [Method in one sentence]

**Main Findings:**
1. [Key result 1 with magnitude]
2. [Key result 2]
3. [Robustness/heterogeneity]

**Limitations:**
- [Main concern 1]
- [Main concern 2]

**Relevance to your project:** [One sentence on how it connects]

**Key quote:** "[Most important direct quote]" (p. XX)