摘要：This paper explores the contribution of the minimum wage to the well documented
rise in earnings inequality in Mexico between the late 1980 and the late 1990s.
In contrast to the view that sees minimum wages as an ineffective redistributive
tool in developing countries, we find that the deterioration in the real bite of
the minimum wage is responsible for the entire rise in inequality at the bottom
of the distribution. Our result challenges the widespread perception that trade
induced shocks are the single most important factor behind the recent rise in
earnings inequality in several less developed economies.
