Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Chapter 1 Overview -- Introduction -- Report Findings -- Issues for Policy Discussion -- Note -- Chapter 2 Context and Framework -- The Historical and Social Justice Perspective-Birth and Evolution of the Minimum Wage -- Theoretical Underpinnings-the Classical Economic View -- Two-Sector Economies-Models with a "Covered" and "Uncovered" Sector -- Empirical Evidence from the OECD Countries -- The Latin American Research -- Notes -- Chapter 3 Minimum Wage Institutions in LAC: What Are They and Who Earns Them? -- What Is a Minimum Wage? -- There Is No Common "Minimum Wage System" for LAC -- Who Earns the Minimum Wage? -- How High Is the Minimum Wage in LAC? -- Notes -- Chapter 4 The Worker: How Do Minimum Wages Affect Other Wages and Employment? -- Minimum Wages Are Somewhat Binding -- Minimum Wage Policies Increase Wages throughout the Wage Distribution -- The Level of the Minimum Wage Determines Whether It Increases or Decreases Wage Inequality -- Wage Benefits Are Not Concentrated on Any Particular Group of Workers -- Minimum Wages Increase Unemployment -- Subnational Minimum Wages Are Standard Practice -- Notes -- Chapter 5 The Households: The Minimum Wage as an Antipoverty Tool -- The Value of the Minimum Wage Is below the Household Subsistence Level -- The Minimum Wage Decreases Poverty Rates but Does Not Help the Most Poor -- High Minimum Wages Increase Household Income Inequality -- Notes -- Chapter 6 The State: The Minimum Wage Implications for Public Expenditures -- The Minimum Wage May Have Large Impacts on the Public Sector Wage Bill -- An Increase in the Minimum Wage Can Have Substantial Impacts on the Cost of Social Benefits -- Notes -- Chapter 7 The International Community: Lessons from Their Experiences -- Setting and Managing Minimum Wages -- Enforcement -- Note.

Chapter 8 Report Conclusions and Policy Considerations -- Report Conclusions -- Considerations for Policy Debates -- Note -- References -- Appendix I Research Methodologies -- Notes -- Appendix II Summary of Literature -- Appendix III Source of Data for Cross-Country Comparisons -- Appendix IV Kernel Density Plots -- Index -- Boxes -- 2.1 Employees against High Minimum Wages? -- 2.2 The Motivation for the Creation of Minimum Wages -- 3.1 Protecting the Wages of Soccer Players -- 5.1 Methodology for Testing the Minimum Wage Effects on Household Poverty and Inequality -- 6.1 Methodology for Simulations -- Figures -- 3.1 Distribution of Minimum Wage Earners -- 3.2 Minimum Wage Relative to the Mean or Unskilled Wage -- 4.1 Cumulative Density Functions Showing "Spikes" at Multiples of the Minimum Wage -- 4.2 Average Wage Increase due to a 1% Increase in the Minimum Wage, by Position in the Wage Distribution before the Wage Change (Full-Time Workers) -- 4.3 Mexico,Average Wage Increase due to a 1% Increase in the Minimum Wage -- 4.4 Kernal Density and Cumulative Density Plots of Wages, by Region -- 5.1 Minimum Wage Relative to the Household per Capita Poverty Lines-US2 per Day or the Consumption-Basket Poverty Line -- 5.2 Impact of the Minimum Wage on Household Income in Mexico, 1999 -- Tables -- 3.1 Main Institutional Characteristics Affecting Minimum Wages in Selected Latin American Countries -- 3.2 Ratio of Each Subgroup's Share of the Minimum Wage Population, Relative to Its Share of the Total Workforce (Full-Time Workers Only) -- 3.3 Ratio of Each Subgroup's Share of the Subminimum Wage Population, Relative to Its Share of the Total Workforce (Full-Time Workers Only) -- 3.4 Proportion that Earns at or below the Minimum Wage, by Demographic Characteristic -- 3.5 Minimum Wages in LAC.

3.6 Ratio of the Minimum Wage to the Median and 10th Percentile Wages -- 4.1 Degree to Which the Minimum Wage Is Binding in Wage Employment in LAC and Year of Analysis, by Sector -- 4.2 Summary of Key Empirical Literature on the Effect of the Minimum Wage on Wages in Latin America -- 4.3 Change in the Wage-Gini Coefficient (by Demographic Group) due to a Decrease in the Minimum Wage, 1988-99 -- 4.4 Summary of Key Literature on the Effect of the Minimum Wage on Unemployment and Employment in Latin America -- 5.1 Review of the Key Literature Examining the Impact of the Minimum Wage on Household Poverty and Inequality in Latin America -- 6.1 Increase in the Public Sector Wage Bill due to a 20 Percent Increase in the Minimum Wage, by Percentage.