Nova SBE Master's thesis

How is the Minimum Wage Shaping the Wage Distribution: Minimum Wage, Spillovers, and Wage Inequality in Portugal

Work Project for the Award of a Master’s degree in Economics from the Nova School of Business and Economics, under the supervision  of Professor Pedro Portugal. Submitted: 17-12-2021. Defended: 13-01-2022. Grade: 20/20.

Abstract: Over the last three decades, wage inequality and the importance of the minimum wage presented a nearly symmetric behavior in Portugal. Applying a semiparametric approach, this paper presents significant visual and quantitative evidence of how the MW structurally reshaped the wage distribution. The remarkable hike in the real MW of 2006-2019 explained virtually all of the decline in wage inequality, and 40% of the average wage growth, mostly driven by spillovers, which cascaded way above the minimum. The MW was most important for women, but spillovers were greater for men. Exploring the total-base wage differential also uncovered important new insights.

Sábado, 27 de janeiro de 2022, Paginas 66-67.pdf

Nova Economics Club | Research Project

AN ANALYSIS OF INEQUALITY AND POVERTY IN PORTUGAL - NEC Research Project 2020 final.pdf

An analysis of inequality and poverty in Portugal

NEC Research Project, with Diogo Roberto, Joana Leitão, Francisco Vale, Henrique Santos. 2020. (ResearchGate)

Abstract: The purpose of this report is to make a description of the income inequality and poverty in Portugal nowadays and throughout the last decades and comparing it with other European countries, in order to reach conclusions about the effectiveness of the policies that have been used to tackle these problems. Information from important working papers on the subject is used, as well as databases such as Pordata and the World Inequality Database. Historically, income inequality does not display the same path as other Western countries, staying high for most of the 20th century, falling after the establishment of democracy in 1974 and increasing from the 1980s, with globalisation. In Portugal, the elderly and the young are the most exposed to poverty, as well as single parent families and families with three or more children. In addition, Madeira and Azores are the regions that present the highest values of income inequality and poverty. Portugal is amongst the most unequal and poorest European countries. Concerning government intervention, direct taxes have been the policy with the highest efficacy in reducing income inequality, while social transfers are the most efficient.

In the press (Jornal Económico):