Abstract: Based on the minimum wage data of Chinese industrial enterprises and cities from 1998 to 2007, this paper applies the resource misallocation measurement framework of Hsieh and Klenow (2009) to empirically study the impact of minimum wages on the distortion of resource allocation and quantify the optimization effect of minimum wages on the size distribution of enterprises under this mechanism. The study finds that the rise in the minimum wage has improved the distortion of labor in enterprises, and the situation of excessive labor allocation is alleviated. Further counter factual analysis indicates that the minimum wage promotes the size expansion of enterprises, especially SMEs by improving labor distortion and ultimately optimizes the size distribution of enterprises.

Key words: Minimum Wage, Resource Allocation Distortion, Enterprise Size Distribution

摘要： 本文使用1998~2007年中国工业企业和城市最低工资数据,基于Hsieh and Klenow(2009)的资源错配测算框架,实证分析最低工资对企业资源配置扭曲的影响,并量化这一机制下最低工资对企业规模分布的优化效应。研究结果发现,最低工资上涨使企业劳动扭曲得到改善,劳动配置过度的情况得以缓解。进一步的反事实分析发现,最低工资通过改善劳动扭曲促进整体企业尤其是中小企业的规模扩张,最终优化企业规模分布。

关键词: 最低工资, 资源配置扭曲, 企业规模分布