@TechReport{iza:izadps:dp3491,
            	author={Müller, Kai-Uwe and Steiner, Viktor},
            	title={Would a Legal Minimum Wage Reduce Poverty? A Microsimulation Study for Germany},
            	year={2008},
	month={May},
            	institution={Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)},
            	address={Bonn},
            	type={IZA Discussion Paper},
            	number={3491},
            	url={https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp3491},
	abstract={In view of rising wage inequality and increasing poverty, the introduction of a legal minimum wage has recently become an important policy issue in Germany. We analyze the distributional effects of the introduction of a nationwide legal minimum wage of € 7.5 per hour on the basis of a microsimulation model which accounts for the complex interactions between individual wages, the tax-benefit system and net household incomes. Simulation results show that the minimum wage would be rather ineffective in reducing poverty, even if it led to a substantial increase in hourly wages at the bottom of the wage distribution and had no negative employment effects. The ineffectiveness of a minimum wage in Germany is mainly due to the existing system of means-tested income support.},
	keywords={minimum wage;wage distribution;working poor;poverty reduction;micro-simulation},
            }