Do the Immigration and Minimum Wage Literatures Contradict Each Other?

Join us for our 2026 Morley Gunderson Lecture in Industrial Relations and Labour Economics, Do the Immigration and Minimum Wage Literatures Contradict Each Other?, delivered by Magne Mogstad, economist and the Gary S. Becker Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago. We will also award the 2026 Morley Gunderson Prize.

Abstract | This lecture will re-examine two important, widely cited, but contentious findings in labour economics. The first is that minimum wages have little impact on employment. The second is that immigration has little impact on wages. In textbook models of the labour market, these findings seem to contradict each other, as they would imply that the labour demand curve is both perfectly elastic and inelastic. Professor Mogstad will examine if and how the findings can be reconciled, and derive implications for our understanding of the functioning of labour markets.