Is racial salary discrimination disappearing in the NBA? evidence from data during 1985–2015

This study re-examines the racial salary gap of National Basketball Association players by constructing a long unbalanced panel covering the 1985–1986 to 2015–2016 seasons. Contrary to the results of previous studies, we find that non-white players are paid equally to white players with similar characteristics in the 1980s and 1990s, but that white players started to be paid about 20% more than non-white players in the last 10 years. Our results are robust to all specification checks, such as quantile regressions, controlling sample selection, different contract types, and player nationality. We find that neither employer preference nor income gap of white and black residents explains this increasing salary gap.     

NEGOTIATED SETTLEMENT UNDER MLB FINAL‐OFFER SALARY ARBITRATION SYSTEM

This paper provides a detailed analysis of negotiated salaries under Major League Baseball's final‐offer arbitration process using data from the 2007–2010 seasons. There is a wage premium of 25% for hitters and 14% for pitchers filing for arbitration. Interestingly, there is an additional premium for exchanging offers for hitters but not for pitchers. The additional premium in salary for hitters who exchange offers with their clubs amounts to 7%. (JEL J31, J52)     

The Impact of Salary Caps in Professional Team Sports

In this paper we analyse the impact of a salary cap on a professional team sports league. We concentrate on the competitive balance, on the level and the distribution of player salaries, on owner profits and total league revenue. A simple model shows that a salary cap can improve the competitive balance among clubs as well as the salary distribution among players. We also investigate how the recent individual salary cap in NBA might affect the competitive balance.     

Minimax after money-max: why major league baseball players do not follow optimal strategies

Using real-life sports data of Major League Baseball, this paper investigates whether professional players follow the minimax theorem in their strategies. Our empirical results using the 2010 regular-season data show that baseball players do not optimize their strategies: there is a significant difference in their payoffs across strategies, and the sequence of their strategy choices is predictable from their previous actions. Further analysis using individual salaries and key contract variables indicates that a higher salary has a positive impact on following minimax strategies in the regular season. By contrast, a longer contract decreases a player’s incentive to pursue optimal strategies in the postseason. These results have important implications for compensation practices in various fields.     

Unions and Gender Pay Equity in Academe: A Study of U.S. Institutions

This paper uses 1994-95 faculty salary data from over 1,100 four-year U.S. academic institutions, about one-fourth of them with collective bargaining agreements, to ask if faculty unions make a difference to gender pay equity. Average gender salary differences are negative at every rank and at every category of U.S. institution with or without collective bargaining agreement. Unions may improve gender salary differentials somewhat, particularly at the assistant professor level. There is no evidence that this gain will be lost at higher levels, and mixed evidence that further gains occur for women at the full professor level. The most pervasive and robust consequence of unions is to increase the positive impact that higher proportions of women at senior faculty ranks make on relative salaries at the assistant professor level. However, the influence of these higher-ranked women on gender salary inequalities at the associate and full levels is lower in union schools than nonunion schools. By reducing the flexibility of existing salary structures, collective bargaining apparently reduces the influence of senior women faculty on the salaries of current women faculty members while increasing their attention and influence at entry levels.     

What does it mean to find the face of the franchise? Physical attractiveness and the evaluation of athletic performance

We show that attractiveness, as measured by facial symmetry, leads to greater rewards in professional sports. National Football League quarterbacks who are more attractive are paid greater salaries and this premium persists after controlling for player performance.     

GATE REVENUE SHARING AND LUXURY TAXES IN PROFESSIONAL SPORTS

This paper examines the impact of gate revenue sharing and luxury taxes on professional sports leagues within the context of a less restrictive demand function than those used in prior models. In contrast to previous studies, the analysis finds that the increased sharing of revenues may enhance competitive balance. Consistent with other models, the analysis finds that player salaries will diminish as the percentage of shared gate receipts rises. The analysis also explores several variations of luxury taxes. All have the effect of lowering salaries. The impact on league balance depends on how the tax is implemented and on how its proceeds are distributed. As with salary caps, enforcement problems exist with the tax.     

Returns to education in professional football

After three years in college, football players face a trade-off between spending more time in college and pursuing a career in the National Football League (NFL). We analyze the salaries for rookies in the NFL and instrument the endogenous decision to enter the professional market with the month of birth (relative age effect). A player enjoys a 6 percent higher starting salary in the NFL for each additional year with the college team. The returns to education in professional sports are sizable and similar to returns to formal education.     

SALARY INEQUALITY,TEAM SUCCESS,LEAGUE POLICIES,AND THE SUPERSTAR EFFECT

Using a simple model of a team's salary distribution and data from the recent Collective Bargaining Agreement between players and owners in the National Hockey League, I examine the relationship between a team's salary distribution and its winning percentage. I find that teams with higher relative payrolls and lower salary inequality have higher winning percentages. I also find evidence of a superstar effect, in that teams with a higher maximum player salary have higher winning percentages. The results are sensitive, however, to the particular measure of salary inequality used as well as the endogeneity of the salary distribution. (JEL Z22, L83, J52, C33, C26)     

Entwicklungstendenzen in der österreichischen Lohn- und Gehaltspyramide zwischen 1953 und 1979

Summary The paper analyzes the development in the personal distribution of wages and salaries in Austria between 1953 and 1979. Two periods of marked changes in the distribution are identified. First, the period from 1953 to 1964 ist characterized by a strong increase in inequality. This was mainly due to specific conditions of the labour market and to the wage policy of the labour unions. Between 1964 and 1970 a movement towards equality can be shown. This was mainly the result of the narrowing of the wage differential between blue and white collar workers. For the third period, from 1970 to 1979, the applied measures of income inequality do not exhibit a significant trend for more equality or inequality. In this period low and high income classes gained higher shares of the total salary and wage bill. Several structural factors, such as the increasing share of women, of white collar workers and of foreign workers and their impact on changes in the distribution are estimated.     

To each according to their ability? Academic ranking and salary inequality across public colleges and universities

This article compares the salary structure of tenured and tenure-track faculty across schools within the university systems of North Carolina and New York. Specifically, we establish a positive relationship between school prestige and salary inequality, both overall and within specific academic ranks. This result suggests that the value to teaching is less discipline-specific than the value to research output. Marked differences in the aforementioned statistical linkage across academic ranks also confirm prior speculation that junior faculty salaries are more closely tied to academic value than senior faculty salaries.     

The NBA and the influx of international basketball players

The determinants of salaries for professional athletes in the National Basketball Association (NBA) are examined to investigate how international athletes have fared relative to athletes trained in the United States. It is found that international basketball players were paid a large premium above other players of similar skills and characteristics for the 1996–97 and 1997–98 seasons, after which the premium disappeared. This temporary premium is likely attributable to a?‘winner's curse’?experienced by NBA teams before investing significant resources in scouting and evaluating international players.     

SALARIES—A FRAMEWORK FOR THE STUDY OF TRENDS

This paper proposes that salary structures and the development of salaries over time be considered within the framework of the distribution of income over time. In particular, it examines certain salary scales in the U.S. and the progressions of typical individuals' salaries during the period 1948–1969, in comparison with the percentile distributions of household income in the same period, as reflected by the Current Population Survey of the Bureau of the Census.     

Base Salaries,Bonus Payments,and Work Absence among Managers in a German Company

This paper provides scarce insider econometric evidence on the structure of management compensation and on the incentive effects of fixed base salaries and bonus payments. Six years of personnel data of 177 managers in a German company are analyzed with special emphasis on the highest achievable bonuses under a Management‐by‐Objectives (MBO) incentive scheme. The main finding of panel negative binomial regressions is that higher achievable bonus payments are correlated with fewer absent working days, which supports the incentive effect of performance pay for managers. The fixed base salary component is, however, not significantly correlated with managers’ work absence.     

A new perspective on the exporter productivity premium: online trade

We use a unique firm-level data set including 9000 companies from 26 European Union countries covering four different sectors to take a close look at the relationship between online exports and productivity. The online exporter productivity premium is estimated using different techniques (ordinary least squares, quantile regressions and robust estimation). Results consistently indicate that the estimated online exporter productivity premium is statistically different from zero, positive and significant from an economic point of view. European online exporters, according to these results, are approximately 2% more productive than non-online exporters. Productivity differences between firms could be related to variables that are not included in the empirical model. More research would be needed to address this issue in the future.     

Professors and hamburgers: an international comparison of real academic salaries

In recent years, academic staff unions and associations have argued for higher salaries for academics on the grounds that existing salaries have not kept pace with inflation, are well below commercial salaries and, most glaringly, are much lower than the salaries of their overseas counterparts. However, most international comparisons are made based on exchange rate conversions, which is inappropriate since purchasing power differentials are only reflected in exchange rates in the long term. Furthermore, the volatility of exchange rates make such conversions highly inaccurate. A comparison is provided of real academic salaries by converting the nominal salaries in each country to their purchasing power equivalents, using the Big Mac Index. Our results show that real academic salaries are highest in Hong Kong and Singapore, relative to the developed countries, while Hong Kong tax and social security deductions are lowest. Furthermore, real salary levels, combined with intrinsic considerations such as the quality-of-life, indicate that Canada and New Zealand are unattractive places for visiting/migrating academics, while Australia and the USA are relatively attractive. It is suggested that these findings could be of use to policy-makers and academic unions in salary negotiations, as well as academics making relocation decisions.     

Wage premium in the state sector and state‐owned enterprises: Econometric evidence from a transition country in times of austerity

This paper investigates the differences in the wage premium and compliance with the wage cut introduced in Serbia at the end of 2014, between two subsectors of the public sector: the state sector and state‐owned enterprises. Results show that before the austerity measures were introduced, the conditional wage premium was, on average, higher in state‐owned enterprises than in the state sector, with significant differences from the median to the top of the wage distribution. After the austerity measures were introduced, the wage differences between the subsectors deepened, due to lower compliance of state‐owned enterprises with the wage cut.     

Tertiary Performance, Field of Study and Graduate Starting Salaries

This paper analyses data from the University of Western Australia (UWA) Graduate Destination Survey linked to information from the University's Student Records System to explore the determinants of graduates' starting salaries over the years 2002 to 2004. While the details examined also include age, gender, language spoken at home, country of birth, disability status and high school attended, most emphasis is placed on the impact on starting salaries of students' academic performance and their field of study. The analyses show that the main determinant of graduates' starting salaries is the weighted average mark they achieve at university. The salary differentials associated with higher marks in the Australian labour market appear greater than those reported in similar studies of the US and the UK labour markets. Science graduates are shown to have relatively low starting salaries, casting a shadow over recent suggestions that the supply of this group be increased through lower fee regimes.     

Is utility additive? The case of alcohol

By using the quantile regressions of earnings equation, we find that the educational wage premium is higher in industries with rapid technological change than in industries with slower technological change at every decile in the distribution of wage residuals. The wage premium associated with the technological change is mostly explained by the returns to workers' unobserved heterogeneities, which are correlated with education, rather than the rents of high-tech industries.     

Who pays for minor league training costs?

As an alternative to monopsonistic exploitation, the underpayment of players in major league baseball may be explained as the attempt by owners to recoup general training expenses. In this article, a method is proffered for estimating the 'surplus' extracted from those players restricted by the reserve clause, where this surplus is defined as the difference between what the player is actually paid and what he would have received if he were a free agent. These estimates are then used to examine how the surplus varies across players. The results suggest a number of interesting aspects of the recovery of minor league training costs, monopsony exploitation, and the distribution of the surplus across players. First, owners only extract a surplus from 'apprentices' (i.e., those young players who are ineligible for salary arbitration). Second, the largest surpluses are extracted from those who cost the least to train. In fact, the surplus generated by star apprentices is about twice that of mediocre apprentices. Finally, the results suggest that the surplus extracted from minority apprentices is 10–15% higher than that extracted from white apprentices.