Selected work

Media

Peer-reviewed academic publications

  • Boffy-Ramirez, Ernest. 2022. “Push or Pull? Measuring the labor supply response to the minimum wage using an individual-level panel”, Applied Economics, doi: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00036846.2021.2020713

    Abstract: For individuals in low-wage labour markets, an increase in the minimum wage can theoretically pull them into or push them out of the labour force. If increases raise expected wages beyond reservation wages, marginal individuals could enter the labour force and begin searching for employment. If increases lower expected wages, marginal individuals already in the labour force could exit. Leveraging revised individual identifiers in the U.S. Current Population Survey, this research estimates the contemporaneous effects of minimum wage increases on labour force participation. The use of within-person variation, short individual panels, and flexible controls for time create an empirical strategy that mitigates potential biases from unobserved constant individual-level heterogeneity and time-varying factors. This research finds that minimum wage changes tend to impact the youngest individuals, but there is substantial heterogeneity in responses by age, race/ethnicity, and sex. There is stronger evidence of pull effects amongst young white men and Latinos, and weaker evidence amongst young Black women and older Latinas. Weak evidence of push effects is observed amongst younger white women, younger Latinos, and older Latinas. This research highlights heterogeneous labour force participation responses to further inform our understanding of search behaviour and labour market churn.

    • Previous version: “The Short-Run Effects of the Minimum Wage on Employment and Labor Market Participation: Evidence from an Individual-Level Panel”(2019), IZA DP No. 12137

  • Boffy-Ramirez, Ernest, and Soojae Moon. 2018. “The Role of China's Household Registration System in the Urban-Rural Income Differential”, China Economic Journal, doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/17538963.2018.1453103

    Abstract: Together with the rapid growth of the Chinese economy, there has been a growing divide between the earnings of urban and rural residents. This paper focuses on China’s household registration system, or ‘hukou’, as a potential source of the earnings gap. Using multiple waves of data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey from 1993 to 2011, we take advantage of variation in hukou status generated by individual-level changes. We control for fixed individual-specific characteristics that determine earnings and estimate an urban hukou ‘premium’. Urban hukou holders earn almost 30% more than rural hukou holders, but after we account for individual fixed characteristics, the urban hukou premium drops to 6–8%. We also find important differences between men and women. The empirical evidence indicates the hukou system is a component of the urban-rural earnings differential, but its importance should not be overstated. The elimination of the hukou system alone cannot address long-standing inequities in access to social services between rural and urban populations.

  • Boffy-Ramirez, Ernest. 2017. “The Heterogeneous impacts of business cycles on educational attainment”, Education Economics, doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/09645292.2017.1336511

    Abstract: This study examines the impact of fluctuations in the unemployment rate before high school graduation on educational attainment measured 30 years later. I find evidence that important heterogeneity is masked by estimating average effects across the ability distribution. Using data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this analysis identifies individuals who are on the boundary between pursuing and not pursuing additional education. Exposure to a higher unemployment rate at age 17 is associated with higher educational attainment for men in the 60–80th quintile of the ability distribution. There is no evidence of an effect beyond this quintile.

  • Bean, Hamilton, and Ernest Boffy-Ramirez. 2017. “Comparing Chinese undergraduate students' level of intercultural communication competence: does studying in the USA make a difference?” Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2017.1403313

    Abstract: This article presents the results of a study conducted in order to determine whether Chinese students who study in the USA for a portion of their internationalised undergraduate degree programme report differences in intercultural communication competence (ICC) compared to their classmates who remain in China. The results showed no significant differences in reported intercultural communication competence between students studying in Beijing and those studying in Denver. Frequency of multicultural group work was not associated with higher intercultural communication competence for students in Beijing, but it was positively associated with higher intercultural communication competence for students in Denver. The strongest relationship observed in the data was between intercultural communication competence and reciprocity, that is, the equal exchange of information and ideas among students. These results have implications for alternatives to study abroad, as well as classroom interventions designed to improve students’ intercultural communication competence.

  • Boffy-Ramirez, Ernest. 2013. “Minimum wages, earnings, and migration”, IZA Institute of Labor Economics Journal of Migration, doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/2193-9039-2-17

    Abstract: Does increasing a state’s minimum wage induce migration into the state? Previous literature has shown mobility in response to welfare benefit differentials across states, yet few have examined the minimum wage as a cause of mobility. Focusing on low-skilled immigrants, this paper empirically examines the effect of minimum wages on location decisions within the United States. This paper expands upon minimum wage and immigration literatures by demonstrating that the choice of destination is sensitive to minimum wage changes, and that the effects are highly dependent on the number of years an immigrant has resided in the U.S.

Policy reports

  • Boffy-Ramirez, E., Dougherty, Y., & Versen, E. (2024). Colorado Community Aging in Place–Advancing Better Living for Elders (CAPABLE) Evaluation: Final Report (Report No. 23-10B). Denver, CO: Colorado Evaluation and Action Lab at the University of Denver

  • Belcher, C., Boffy-Ramirez, E., & Versen, E. (2024). Cash for Coloradans: Activate Work No Interest Loans and Financial Coaching Preliminary Findings (Report No. 23-07A). Denver, CO: Colorado Evaluation and Action Lab at the University of Denver

  • Boffy-Ramirez, E., Belcher, C, & Versen E. (2024). Cash for Coloradans: Center for Employment Opportunities Cash Assistance for Returning Citizens Preliminary Findings (Report No. 23-07B). Denver, CO: Colorado Evaluation and Action Lab at the University of Denver

  • Boffy-Ramirez, E. & Versen E. (2024). Colorado Wage and Outcomes Results Coalition Reports. Denver, CO: Colorado Evaluation and Action Lab at the University of Denver, https://coloradolab.org/resources/workforcedevelopment-evidence-building-hub/

  • Argys, Laura, Ernest Boffy-Ramirez, and Hani Mansour. 2019. “Denver Municipal Minimum Wage Report” prepared for the City of Denver and Denver Economic Development Opportunity, Denver 2019 minimum wage report