barrios88/barrios-skills/lit-review-assistant

# Literature Review: [TOPIC]
 
## Search Strategy
 
**Databases:** EconLit, NBER, Google Scholar, SSRN
**Date range:** 2010-2024
**Search terms:** 
-("minimum wage" OR "wage floor") AND (employment OR jobs)
-("minimum wage") AND ("difference-in-differences" OR "DiD")
 
**Inclusion criteria:**
-Peer-reviewed or NBER working papers
-Focused on [specific outcome]
-Uses causal identification strategy
 
---
 
## Seminal Papers
 
### Card and Krueger (1994)
**Citation:** Card, D., & Krueger, A. B. (1994). Minimum Wages and Employment: A Case Study of the Fast-Food Industry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. *American Economic Review*, 84(4), 772-793.
 
**Research Question:** What is the effect of minimum wage increases on employment?
 
**Data & Method:** 
-DiD comparing NJ (treatment) to PA (control)
-Survey of fast-food restaurants before/after NJ minimum wage increase
 
**Key Findings:**
-No negative employment effect found
-Employment slightly increased in NJ relative to PA
 
**Contribution:** Challenged conventional view; pioneered quasi-experimental methods in labor economics
 
**Limitations:**
-Single state, short time horizon
-Potential survey response bias
 
---
 
### Cengiz et al. (2019)
**Citation:** Cengiz, D., Dube, A., Lindner, A., & Zipperer, B. (2019). The Effect of Minimum Wages on Low-Wage Jobs. *Quarterly Journal of Economics*, 134(3), 1405-1454.
 
**Research Question:** Do minimum wage increases destroy jobs or compress the wage distribution?
 
**Data & Method:**
-Bunching estimator using 138 minimum wage events
-Examine employment distribution around minimum wage
 
**Key Findings:**
-Jobs below the new minimum wage disappear
-But replaced by jobs just above the minimum
-No significant overall employment loss
 
**Contribution:** Novel bunching methodology; large-scale evidence
 
---
 
## Synthesis: What We Know
 
| Finding | Evidence Quality | Consensus Level |
|---------|-----------------|-----------------|
| Small minimum wage increases have minimal employment effects | Strong (multiple RCTs/quasi-experiments) | High |
| Effects may be heterogeneous by region | Medium | Growing |
| Large increases (e.g., $15) less studied | Limited | Low |
 
## Research Gaps
 
1.**Mechanism:** How do firms absorb higher labor costs? (Prices, profits, productivity?)
2.**Long-run effects:** Most studies focus on 1-2 years
3.**Geographic heterogeneity:** Do effects differ in low vs. high cost-of-living areas?
4.**Spillovers:** Effects on workers earning above minimum wage
 
## Connection to Your Project
 
Your study of [SPECIFIC QUESTION] can contribute by:
-[How your work fills a gap]
-[What new data/method you bring]

## [Author(s)] ([Year])
 
**Title:** [Full title]
 
**Published in:** [Journal/Working Paper Series]
 
**Research Question:** [One sentence]
 
**Data:**
-Source: [Dataset name]
-Period: [Years]
-Sample: [N observations, unit of analysis]
 
**Identification Strategy:** [Method in one sentence]
 
**Main Findings:**
1.[Key result 1 with magnitude]
2.[Key result 2]
3.[Robustness/heterogeneity]
 
**Limitations:**
-[Main concern 1]
-[Main concern 2]
 
**Relevance to your project:** [One sentence on how it connects]
 
**Key quote:** "[Most important direct quote]" (p. XX)