Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/272641 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 16014
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We develop new facts relating news coverage, interest groups, and events in the legislative histories of minimum wage increases. First, we create and validate a database of news articles that includes coverage of minimum wages and organized labor. Second, we show that policy changes predict increases in news coverage that connects organized labor and minimum wages, in particular when those articles reference high-profile interest groups and research output. Third, these policy events lead coverage of organized labor to shift towards articles about minimum wages. We observe that the minimum wage's popularity with the public makes this shift qualify as "good PR," an assessment that is supported by sentiment analysis of articles about organized labor. This public relations channel can thus help rationalize why interest groups engage in policy advocacy.
Subjects: 
political economy
social choice
minimum wage
unionization
JEL: 
D71
D78
P16
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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