Do Living Wage Policies Diffuse?

In: Urban affairs review, Volume 41, Issue 5, p. 710-719

Abstract

This research note examines the conditions under which large U.S. cities pass living wage laws. It updates the only published article on the subject with new data and improved analytic methods. First, it shows that poverty, privatization, and the density of community organizations are associated with policy passage. Second, it provides new quantitative evidence that the living wage movement is, in part, a diffusion process associated with national community-organizing networks.