This paper examines the potential effects on inequality and poverty of a minimum wage increase, based on a microsimulation model that captures the details of household composition and the income tax and welfare benefit system and allows for labour supply responses. Results suggest that, largely due to the composition of household incomes, a policy of increasing the minimum wage has a relatively small effect on the inequality of income per adult equivalent person, and a money metric utility measure, using several inequality indices. Hence, the minimum wage policy does not appear to be particularly well targeted, largely due to many low wage earners being secondary earners in higher income households, while many low income households have no wage earners at all. These results are reinforced when allowing for wage spillovers further up the wage distribution. Nevertheless, a minimum wage increase can have a more substantial effect on some poverty measures for sole parents in employment.

中文翻译：

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新西兰最低工资增长的再分配效应：微观模拟分析

本文基于微观模拟模型，研究了最低工资增长对不平等和贫困的潜在影响，该模型捕捉了家庭构成，所得税和福利待遇系统的详细信息，并考虑了劳动力供给。结果表明，在很大程度上由于家庭收入的构成，提高最低工资的政策对每个成年人当量人的收入不平等的影响相对较小，而货币计量效用度量则使用多个不平等指数。因此，最低工资政策似乎没有特别针对性，这主要是由于许多低收入者是高收入家庭的次要收入者，而许多低收入家庭却根本没有工资性者。当允许工资溢出进一步提高工资分配时，这些结果将得到加强。然而，最低工资的提高可能对某些单亲父母就业的贫困措施产生更大的影响。