Rural-Urban Wage Differentials,Unemployment, and Efficiency Wages: An Open Economy Policy Analysis

This paper analyzes the desirability of various policies designed to counteract the distorting nature of an equilibrium rural-urban wage differential in a small, open, two-sector economy with urban unemployment. A dual labor market model with an efficiency wage in the urban sector and urban unemployment is analyzed for the distributional and national output effects of an urban wage subsidy, an urban production subsidy, and a tariff on the urban good. While a small subsidy or tariff raises the value of national output, redistribution effects may limit the viability of intervention. However, subsidies can also be Pareto improving policies.     

政府推动的就近城镇化能够消除工资歧视吗

随着大中城市城镇化空间的逐渐饱和以及农民工回流现象的出现,就近城镇化成为推进我国新型城镇化进程的重要模式。文章基于2017年中国流动人口动态监测调查(CMDS)数据,研究政府推动的就近城镇化对农村劳动力工资收入的影响发现:政府通过征地、户口改革方式推动的就近城镇化并不能够消除工资歧视,实现就近城镇化的农村劳动力在其他条件相同的情况下其工资水平仍然低于城镇本地职工,这一结论在纠正自选择偏差和样本选择偏差后仍然成立。机制分析发现,城镇劳动力市场针对实现就近城镇化的农村劳动力在就业机会方面的歧视与隔离已不明显,同工不同酬成为实现就近城镇化者面临的主要歧视形式,而城乡劳动力之间教育回报率的差异是导致同工不同酬的主要原因。进一步讨论发现,就近城镇化对于农村劳动力参保城镇职工保险具有显著的提升作用,而自我雇佣的就业形式则有助于打破城镇劳动力市场对农村劳动力的收入歧视。文章拓展研究了就近城镇化对农村劳动力工资收入的影响,为政府进一步推进以县域城镇化为主要形式的就近城镇化提供了研究参考。未来应持续推进城乡基本公共服务均等化,进一步缩小城乡教育质量差异,加强农村劳动力"同工同酬"的保护力度,稳步推进农村劳动力的就近城镇化。     

Imperfect competition,technical progress and capital accumulation

This paper constructs a dynamic equilibrium growth model, in which some firms act as monopsonies on the labor market. The framework is an overlapping generations growth model with altruistic agents. Two types of firms exist, competitive and non‐competitive, the latter being endowed with a more productive technology. They behave strategically on the labor market, in taking into account the impact of their demand for labor on the equilibrium wage and on their profit. In this framework, the impact of technical progress on capital accumulation can be positive or negative, depending on its effect on monopsony power.     

MIGRATION,LABOR MARKET FLEXIBILITY,AND WAGE DETERMINATION IN CHINA: A REVIEW

This paper reviews economic studies on rural‐urban migration issues in China. The paper focuses on four issues: the household registration system in China, the profile of the migrants, explanations for rural‐to‐urban migration, and the interaction between migration and labor market evolution, with special reference to labor market segregation, labor market flexibility, and wage differentials. The paper concludes with suggestions for further research topics.     

Jobs with different wage determination mechanisms, social efficiency and unemployment

The purpose of this paper is to construct a theoretical framework for the labor market, which is composed of a variety of jobs with different wage determination mechanisms. We identify an equilibrium in which some firms post a wage and others bargain with workers. This paper shows that the proportion of firms adopting wage bargaining in a decentralized equilibrium is below the socially optimal level. We identify policies to increase this proportion and to improve social efficiency. Furthermore, we examine the impact of those policies on unemployment. The results of this study will determine the direction of employment policy on the labor market with various employment styles.     

Wage differentials between urban and rural-urban migrant workers in China

Since the end of the 1980s, the number of migrants working in the urban labor market has increased dramatically. However, migrant workers are treated differently from urban workers. In this paper we examine the labor market discrimination against rural migrants from the point of view of wage differentials using CHIP-2007 data. We apply Jann pooled method to deal with index number problem and use Heckman two step model to correct selection problem when decomposing the wage gap. The decomposition results show that a significant difference in wage gains persists between the two groups as late as 2007. In 2007 migrants only earned 49% of urban workers' income and 17% of the wage gap cannot be explained by observed factors. In detail, differences in educational attainment, work experience and distribution across industry, occupation, and ownership of enterprises account for most of the explained wage gap.     

Wage increases, wage convergence, and the Lewis turning point in China

We examine the wage trends of ordinary workers and the wage convergence between unskilled and skilled workers in China. First, we find that wages in all non-agricultural sectors, wages of migrant workers, and wages of hired workers in the agricultural sector have increased dramatically since 2003. Second, through comparing wage differentials between migrant and urban resident workers and between heterogeneous education groups within migrant workers, and by investigating the changes in the contribution of the returns to education to wage differentials, we find that the wages of unskilled and skilled workers have converged. Both the increasing wage trends and wage convergence are interpreted as evidence supporting the hypothesis that China has passed what can be called the Lewis turning point in the industrial sector. We conclude that the sustainability of economic growth in China requires an upgrading of labor market institutions to accommodate the merging of the rural and urban labor forces.     

Unemployment in LDCs: Worker heterogeneity, screening, and quantity constraints

Unemployment in many less developed countries is characterized by a significant urban-rural wage differential coexisting with high urban unemployment. This may be consistent with optimization when there is imperfect information about a worker's ability, and abilities are heterogeneous. Firms know only the average quality of workers in the labour pool. High urban wages induce immigration of workers from rural areas, improving the average quality of the urban labour pool which has been depleted of high ability workers by previous screening. Hence, both sides of the market way find high non-market-clearing wages optimal. Quantity constraints from imperfect capital markets may strengthen this effect.     

新疆农村剩余劳动力转移影响因素研究——基于分位数回归方法

本文将新疆农村剩余劳动力转移作为研究对象,以影响因素为切入点,分别从劳动力因素、制度因素和容量因素中筛选出7个指标,运用多元回归和分位数回归方法,系统分析和判断新时期新疆农村剩余劳动力转移的关键因素及其在不同分位点上的影响程度。研究表明：在整个分位点上,城镇登记失业率、人口自然增长率对新疆农村剩余劳动力转移的影响最大,其次是人均耕地面积的影响;在高剩余阶段,制度变迁指数、第二产业产值比重、少数民族人口比重对新疆农村剩余劳动力转移的影响较大,城乡收入差距在整个分位点上的影响较小。为此,提出促进新疆农村剩余劳动力转移的具体措施。     

Racial differences in the unemployment response to structural changes in local labor markets

This analysis uses establishment-level data on job creation and destruction to examine the unemployment rate responses of black, Hispanic and white workers to shifts in demand across firms and industries during the period 1980–84. Black unemployment rates are significantly more responsive to differences in aggregate demand growth and wage flexibility than are white and Hispanic unemployment rates, and they are also more severely impacted by structural changes in labor demand than are white and Hispanic unemployment rates. Additional research using the measures and focus of the present analysis that cover other time periods can assist in developing a clearer picture of the contemporary dynamics of urban labor markets and can provide guidance for public policy.     

Monopsony and competition: The impact of rival leagues on player salaries during the early days of baseball

During the early days of professional baseball, the dominant major leagues imposed a “reserve clause” designed to limit player wages by restricting competition for labor. Entry into the market by rival leagues challenged the incumbent monopsony cartel's ability to restrict compensation. Using a sample of player salaries from the first 40 years of the reserve clause (1880–1919), this study examines the impact of inter-league competition on player wages. This study finds a positive salary effect associated with rival league entry that is consistent with monopsony wage suppression, but the effect is stronger during the 20th century than the 19th century. Changes in levels of market saturation and minor-league competition may explain differences in the effects between the two eras.     

Pollution mitigation,unemployment rate and wage inequality in the presence of agricultural pollution

This paper established a small open general equilibrium model to investigate the effects of the changes of consumers' unit private mitigation expenditure on the unemployment rate and the urban-rural wage inequality etc.. We found that (1) in the capital specific case, the increase of unit private mitigation expenditure will not only increase the urban unemployment rate but also expend the urban-rural wage inequality; (2) in the capital movable case, the conclusions are exactly opposite to that of the capital specific case. And under certain conditions, the increase of unit private mitigation expenditure may improve national income. According to the parameter calibration and numerical simulation results of the relevant macroeconomic data of China in 2017, we also found that (3) the effects of the changes of unit private mitigation expenditure on the urban unemployment rate is greater than that of the urban-rural wage inequality; (4) the influence degree of the changes of unit private mitigation expenditure on the unemployment rate in the capital movable case is greater than that of the capital specific case, but the influence degree of the change of unit private mitigation expenditure on the urban-rural wage inequality in the capital movable case is smaller than that of the capital specific case.     

Productivity and distribution under cropsharing tenancy

This paper develops a model of sharecropping assuming tenant autonomy, competitive behavior of landlords and laborers and endogenously determined wage and share-rental rates. The coexistence of wage labor and sharecropping is explained in terms of their incentive, labor process and risk-sharing characteristics. Sharecropping serves as a surrogate for the direct supervision of the labor process. Its incidence is shown to rise in the presence of unemployment at a subsistence wage. The model implies that the abolition of tenancy will raise output, raise labor income and reduce land income.     

Efficiency Wages,Partial Wage Rigidity,and Money Nonneutrality

The efficiency wage theory is generally regarded as a plausible explanation as to why wages do not fall to clear labor markets in the presence of involuntary unemployment. At the current stage of its development, not much is said concerning the role of nominal money and the fluctuations in aggregate employment and output. Adopting the efficiency wage theory, this paper uses the idea of partial rigidity of wages in an attempt to explain why changes in money supply and other demand management policies can cause fluctuations in aggregate employment and output.     

Labor market developments in China: A neoclassical view

This paper assesses the applicability of two alternative theories in understanding labor market developments in China: the classical view featuring a Lewis turning point in wage growth versus a neoclassical framework emphasizing rational choices of individuals and equilibrating forces of the market. Empirical evidence based on multiple data sources fails to validate the arrival of the Lewis turning point in China, showing continuous and coordinated wage growth across rural and urban sectors instead. Consistent with the neoclassical view, we find that rural workers expanded off-farm work when mobility restrictions were lifted, interprovincial migration responded to expected earnings and local employment conditions, and returns to education converged gradually to the international standard. These findings suggest major progresses in the integration of labor markets in China.     

Product market competition, unemployment and income disparities

Product Market Competition, Unemployment and Income Disparities. — We discuss how promoting competition in product markets affects unemployment and wage differentials. We examine a general equilibrium model with real wage rigidities in labor markets and market power in product markets. We illustrate how more intense competition reduces unemployment. A decrease of markups would induce an increase of real wages if real wages were flexible. This enables the employment of more low-skilled people above a real reservation wage. More intensive competition, however, widens wage and income differences between low-skilled and high-skilled workers. Differences of income distributions across countries could also be caused by differences in the intensity of product market competition.     

我国失业保险金标准及支付研究——基于北京市的实证

失业保险制度具有保障失业者基本生活、促进就业和预防失业的基本功能。通过对北京市失业保险金水平及支付的研究发现,目前北京市失业保险金存在水平较低、保险基金支出相对较窄和失业保险金支付模式单一等问题。因此,本文主张以需要和激励为基本原则,构建起与社平工资、最低工资及城镇居民基本生活费用价格指数相关联的失业保险金标准决定机制,并建议采用失业保险金递减支付模式,进一步扩大失业保险基金支出范围,从而促进我国失业保险制度更好更快地发展。     

我国城镇劳动力市场供给分析——兼论“民工荒”的成因及对策

双重劳动力市场是我国二元经济在劳动力市场上的反应,随着统筹城乡经济发展战略的实施,城乡人力资本差别将逐步缩小,劳动供给弹性有逐渐缩小和趋同的趋势,双重劳动力市场最终将会被劳动力一体化市场所取代,其前提条件是加强农民工文化素质培养和职业技能培训,提高农民工工资和福利水平,降低进城门槛和减少转移成本,增加政府转移支付和各种社会保障。     

社会网络与民工工资：来自中国的证据

 本文基于来自中国22个省的农户调查数据研究了利用的不同社会网络对于不同的民工在城市劳动力市场上的工资水平的影响,结果发现：并不是利用所有的社会网络都能够提高所有民工的工资水平。首先,只有利用亲友关系找到的工作才能够得到更高的工资;其次,即使亲友关系也不能提高利用它找到工作的所有民工的工资水平,而只能显著提高女性和已婚民工的工资水平。所以,在研究中忽略社会网络和民工的差异性会导致错误的研究结论。本文有助于帮助理解中国的劳动力流动及社会网络在劳动力市场中的作用。     

Unemployment with trade and firm heterogeneity

By specifying the setting of the footloose capital model with firm heterogeneity, this paper examines the effects of trade liberalization on unemployment through two different mechanisms: firstly, we embed search frictions into the labor market; and secondly, we consider fair wages as the source of unemployment. In the model with search frictions, we find that both the expected wage and employment rate could be higher for a small country with better search technology. In the fair wage setting, the results show that an increase in trade freeness increases the unemployment rate of the large (small) country when the trade freeness is sufficiently high (low). Finally, we try to compare the welfare levels under different scenarios and discover that unemployment may lead to a deterioration in the welfare gains from trade.