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Does Higher Minimum Wage Discourage College Enrollment? A Cross-State Empirical Study of the United States

Arindam Mandal et al.

American Business Review2025https://doi.org/10.37625/abr.28.2.618-634article
ABDC B
Weight
0.50

Abstract

The paper investigates the impact of minimum wage increase on college enrollment in the U.S. using a panel of 50 U.S. states during the period 2009-2018. By examining the impact of minimum wage on college enrollment, particularly within different types of post-secondary institutions, our study adds to the existing literature. This is a departure from previous research, which predominantly concentrated on two-year college enrollment. We find evidence that raising minimum wages adversely affects overall college enrollment. However, the results vary depending on the type of colleges. The increase in minimum wage has a negative impact on the enrollment of two-year colleges, while positively affecting the enrollment in four-year public colleges. We use state level aggregated data and estimate our results using a System Generalized Method of Moments (System GMM) to account for endogeneity concerns surrounding the minimum wage and college enrollment.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.37625/abr.28.2.618-634

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@article{arindam2025,
  title        = {{Does Higher Minimum Wage Discourage College Enrollment? A Cross-State Empirical Study of the United States}},
  author       = {Arindam Mandal et al.},
  journal      = {American Business Review},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.37625/abr.28.2.618-634},
}

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Does Higher Minimum Wage Discourage College Enrollment? A Cross-State Empirical Study of the United States

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.