Partisanship, Political Culture, and Minimum Wage Policy

• In Event: 261 - Section on Political Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 01. Partisanship and Polarization

Abstract

The United States’ recent economic recession coupled with rising economic inequality has brought issues of worker compensation to the forefront of political and popular debates. In particular, much discourse has revolved around minimum wage laws. We used pooled time series models that span 1980-2014 to assess the extent to which state minimum wage levels are determined by political partisanship and state political culture. Key findings reveal that, net of numerous controls, Republican political strength as well as individualistic state cultures are associated with significantly lower minimum wage levels.

Authors

• Daniel Tope, Florida State University

• Clayton M. Gumber, Florida State University

• Daniel Lanford, Florida State University