Technological Complexity, Wage Differentials and Unemployment

A model is developed to analyse the relation between wages and technological complexity, as characterised by the "O–ring" theory of production. In equilibrium, the adoption of a relatively complex technology induces the employer to pay higher wages. We argue that the model can explain increased within–group wage inequality as a consequence of increased technological heterogeneity among firms.
JEL classification : J 31; O 33     

国有部门与非国有部门工资差异及人力资本贡献

本文利用微观调查数据,对我国国有部门与非国有部门的工资差异进行了实证研究。在对工资差异进行分解后,本文发现,我国国有部门的工资优势中有80%以上来自于人力资本的优势,这说明人力资本在国有部门的工资决定中已经发挥了决定性作用。但人力资本对工资差异的贡献在工资分布区间并不均匀,它随着工资从高分位点到低分位点逐渐降低,与此对应的是工资溢价随工资从高分位点到低分位点逐渐升高。从工资差异看,在工资分布的高端——高知识高技能人才的密集区,工资差异完全体现为人力资本的差异,而在工资分布的低端——低技能劳动力的密集区,工资差异有很大一部分是人力资本无法解释的,也即溢价。本研究认为,造成这种现象的原因在于国有部门"共享式"的工资决定模式。这种模式倾向于在压低高技能劳动力的报酬率的同时,抬高低技能劳动力的报酬率。所以国有部门的工资决定应进一步强化人力资本的报酬机制,以提高效率,增强竞争力。     

中国城市劳动力市场上的性别工资差异

本文描述了中国城市劳动力市场上男女在行业获得和工资上的差异,并且用计量方法对工资差异进行了分解。分解结果表明,男女工资差异主要由同类行业内工资差异引起,而由于两者行业分布不同而带来的工资差异不大;歧视是造成性别之间的工资差异的主要原因,人力资本所起的作用很小。由此,缩小行业内的工资差异,消除对女性的歧视,是缩小工资性别差异的重要途径。     

Wage Differentials between the State and Private Sectors in Moscow

In this study the 1997 Russian Labor Force Survey is used to investigate wage differentials between the state and the private sector in the city of Moscow. Our analysis demonstrates that substantial differences exist between private and state sector wages. We estimate the gap between private and state sector wages to be 14.3 percent for men and 18.3 percent for women. We also find gender differences in wages. Men in the private sector earn on average 23.7 percent more than women. The gender wage gap in the state sector is even higher at 32.5 percent. In the state sector, wages for both men and women increase as years of tenure increase. But in the private sector this is only true for men; women earn no return to tenure. The probability of employment in the private sector decreases with age and tenure.     

Compensating Wage Differentials with Unemployment: Evidence from China

We estimate the economic value of mortality risk in China using the compensating-wage-differential method. We find a positive and statistically significant correlation between wages and occupational fatality risk. The estimated effect is largest for unskilled workers. Unemployment reduces compensation for risk, which suggests that some of the assumptions under which compensating wage differentials can be interpreted as measures of workers’ preferences for risk and income are invalid when unemployment is high. Workers may be unwilling to quit high-risk jobs when alternative employment is difficult to obtain, violating the assumption of perfect mobility, or some workers (e.g., new migrants) may be poorly informed about between-job differences in risk, violating the assumption of perfect information. These factors suggest our estimates of the value per statistical life (VSL) in China, which range from approximately US$30,000 to US$100,000, may be biased downward. Alternative estimates adjust for heterogeneity of risk within industry by assuming that risk is concentrated among low-skill workers. These estimates, which are likely to be biased downward, range from US$7,000 to US$20,000.      

不同期限类型劳动合同的工资决定机制及差异——基于中国家庭住户收入调查数据的经验研究

文章利用2002年住户收入调查(CHIP)数据对我国不同期限类型劳动合同的工资决定机制及工资差异进行了经验研究。结果发现,长期劳动合同与短期劳动合同的工资差异符合补偿性工资差别理论,企业对没有签订劳动合同的员工存在工资歧视。排除特征因素和选择性因素,长期劳动合同工的工资比短期劳动合同工低42.84%,比无劳动合同员工高29.6%。文章研究表明:短期劳动合同没有对生产率表现出显著的负面影响,提升劳动合同签订率是比限制短期劳动合同使用更为合适的劳动政策。     

Efficiency-Wage Unemployment and Intersectoral Wage Differentials in a Heckscher–Ohlin Model

The paper analyzes a Heckscher–Ohlin (HO) model with efficiency-wage unemployment (henceforth HOe model). We show that all HO results have close HOe analogues. Additionally, conditions are derived under which immigrants might not only find employment for themselves but also raise employment for natives. Moreover, we analyze the ranking of countries with respect to their rate of unemployment, showing that this ranking may be reversed as countries move from autarky to trade. All results are clearly linked to factor intensities and the pattern of intersectoral wage differentials.     

A Reexamination of the Time Path of Wage Differentials in Taiwan

Contrary to the conclusions of a recent paper by Chen and Hsu (Review of Development Economics, vol. 5, 2001, pp. 336–54), wage inequality and returns to college‐educated workers have risen in Taiwan since 1980. Government policies which have caused rapid expansion of the supply of new college graduates have depressed returns for only the youngest cohorts of college graduates. Older cohorts of college graduates experienced rising returns, as have college graduates as a whole. Young college‐educated women's returns fell more and older college‐educated women's returns rose more relative to their male counterparts. Consequently, the rising share of women in the labor force helped amplify these trends. Changing trade patterns have tended to increase labor demand in sectors that use educated labor more intensively, helping to raise returns to skill. However, in contrast to western economies, rising capital intensity does not appear to have accelerated the pay gap by skill in Taiwan.     

Flexible Hours,Workplace Authority,and Compensating Wage Differentials in the US

The theory of compensating differentials suggests that workers with flexible schedules will earn less than other workers. Some authors have also contended that the concentration of women in jobs with flexible hours explains a significant part of the gender pay gap. This paper uses data from the US subset of the Comparative Project in Class Analysis to test these hypotheses. These data first indicate that, contrary to popular wisdom, women workers do not have more flexible schedules than men. Second, the really striking differential is by race: black workers have much more rigid schedules than white workers. Third, workers with more authority at the workplace typically have more flexibility than subordinate workers. Finally, the data show that any compensating differentials for flexible hours are small and are offset by returns to workplace authority.     

工作特征对性别工资差距的作用

补偿性工资是解释性别工资差距的理论之一。本文利用2006年中国综合社会调查(CGSS2006)数据同时考察了人力资本和工作特征的工资效应,并采用Jann(2008)提出的无歧视工资机制的估计方法,对性别工资差距进行了分解分析。研究发现,我国城镇劳动力市场两性的工作特征存在显著的差异,但部分工作特征对工资的作用方向并不符合补偿性工资理论的预期。管理职务上的差异对性别工资差距具有一定的解释作用,但加入大量的工作特征变量后,性别工资差距中总的可解释部分没有明显提高。由此推论,性别歧视可能是形成工资差距的重要因素。促进性别平等和妇女发展必须采取更加积极的公共政策和反歧视措施。     

Gender Wage Differentials and Occupational Segregation in Hong Kong, 1981–1996

This paper analyses gender wage differentials and the role of occupational segregation in Hong Kong. It is found that the female–male earnings ratio increased substantially from 0.710 in 1981 to 0.839 in 1996. A decomposition which takes into account occupational differences shows that the gender pay gap is mostly within occupations and most of the intra‐occupation wage gap is unexplained. The gender pay differential due to occupational differences is small; in fact, the overall occupational segregation favours females in Hong Kong.     

Decomposing Gender Wage Differentials Using Quantile Regression: Evidence from the Lebanese Banking Sector

This paper investigates gender pay inequality in the labor market of a developing country. Our empirical investigation uses data derived from a sample of employees in the Lebanese banking sector for the years 2008 and 2014. Using Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition, the results reveal that the unexplained component of the gender wage gap, attributed to discrimination, represents a substantial share of the total gap. A surprising result is that the contribution of human capital to the gender wage gap is negative, suggesting that wage discrimination is the main explanation for the gap. Utilizing the Machado-Mata methodology to decompose the wage gap across the entire wage distribution, our findings indicate that the unexplained component of the raw gender wage gap is more pronounced at the low and middle ranges of the distribution. However, the explained component dominates at the top of the distribution, suggesting that earnings gaps are fully explained by observed characteristics.     

Wage Differentials and Labour Supply of Married Women in Japan: Part-time and Informal Sector Work Opportunities

This paper studies the pattern of labour supply of Japanese married women. The study develops and tests a discrete work choice model with a differing level of fixed cost of work and equalizing wage differential s. This accounts for differences in work characteristics of the regular status and part-time status work at firms, the family and self-employment. A 20 to 30 per cent hourly wage differential was obser ved between work categories with control on skills, region and other variables. Different effects are studied of the numbe r and ages of children, a grandmother's presence and the wife's educational attainments on the category of work selected.
The data employed come from The Occupational History and Mobility Survey of Women 1983 (OHMS), conducted by the National Institute for Vocational and Occupational Research, and allow detailed wage regression and consideration of different work categories which were not feasible in previous works. Empirical regulari ties of the Japanese labour market, such as the absence of growth in labour participation for mothers with small children, are better explained when work categories are dealt with separately.     

工资差异、劳动力流动与工业集聚——基于新经济地理学的解释和实证检验

初始工资、运输成本和外部规模经济是劳动力空间流动和经济区域集聚的重要驱动力量。通过1980—2007年29个省市的面板数据实证研究证实了工资差异对经济集聚的影响,东部沿海地区的工资增加对经济集聚的作用显著,而内陆地区工资变动的集聚效应尚不明显。因此工资增加对沿海地区的集聚效应是有效率的,对内陆地区的集聚效应是非效率的,内陆地区的经济集聚受到开放程度、城市化水平等多种因素的制约。     

跨境电商改革与工资收入：一个新开放视角

跨境电商作为一种新开放形式,对于稳定进出口和吸纳就业具有重要的作用,也是促进我国经济走向“国内国际双循环”的重要途径。为此,文章以设立跨境电商综合试验区作为研究案例,结合我国A股上市公司数据,采用双重差分法系统评估跨境电商改革对试点城市公司员工平均工资收入的影响及其作用机制,并且着重探讨跨境电商改革所带来的就业效应、减负效应和减贫效应。研究发现：（1）跨境电商改革显著提高了试验区公司员工的平均工资收入。（2）跨境电商改革主要提高了东部地区和高互联网普及地区、第二产业和工商业、小规模公司、民营公司和低工资水平公司等样本组的公司员工工资收入。（3）供给侧的税收优惠政策显著降低了试验区公司的税率和融资约束程度,并且有助于提升公司的员工工资收入;而公司行为反映了需求侧变动,公司扩大就业规模和改善人才结构是跨境电商改革提升员工工资收入的重要影响渠道。（4）跨境电商改革显著提高了个体和家庭的收入水平,缓解了试验区试点城市的相对贫困问题。     

产业集聚、要素流动与空间工资差异研究--基于中国28省市面板数据的实证研究

从新经济地理学视角出发,以迪克希特-斯蒂格利茨垄断竞争模型为研究的框架基础,按照传统经济学两区域两部门经济的分析思路构建理论模型进行规范分析,并运用面板数据模型进行实证研究,以中国28个省（市、区）面板数据为数据依据,从而得出了影响中国四大区域之间（东、中、西和东北）实际工资水平存在差异的主要因素及其影响程度。     

Interregional Fertility Differentials and Agglomeration

In this study, we construct an interregional trade model that includes endogenous fertility rates. The presented model shows that the agglomeration of manufacturing firms in a large region causes fertility rates to become lower than in a small region. We also find that a decrease in transportation costs results in the agglomeration of manufacturing firms, which lowers fertility rates in both large and small regions. In addition, comparing the competitive equilibrium with the optimal equilibrium, the fertility rates may be inefficiently small.     

On Interregional Price Differentials

It is often observed that the land value is extremely high in very big cities while commodity prices are not. The objective of this paper is to consider interregional price differentials in a microeconomic framework by explicitly incorporating land for housing, and to conduct an empirical analysis of the interregional differential indices. It is revealed that across regions the CPI varies slightly, per capita income varies more, the housing rent varies still more and the land value varies the most in Japanese cities. I provide microeconomic reasons for the differences in these differentials.
JEL Classificiation Numbers: R00, R10.     

垄断行业工资改革的可行性研究——基于国际垄断行业视角

在垄断行业中,员工的工资一般高于其他行业,表现出收入分配的不平等.引起垄断行业工资问题的原因很多,垄断行业工资问题也对社会经济各方面产生着重要影响,导致公共福利受损,减少了劳动者的流动及其对人力资本的投入,加剧了社会收入的不公平.对于垄断行业工资所引发的种种问题已经受到社会各界的重视,各国政府已开始采取措施解决这些问题,把竞争机制等改革引入垄断行业.     

Wage Drift and the Relevance of Centralised Wage Setting

The system of wage setting in the Nordic countries is often regarded as highly centralised, contributing to considerable real wage flexibility. This view has been questioned, as sizeable wage drift may offset the effect of central negotiations. This paper presents evidence from the four major Nordic countries, suggesting that there is little or no such offsetting effect. Yet, at central negotiations, the institutional system of wage formation may induce nominal rigidities that may prevent wage restraint when there is little room for money wage growth. Empirical evidence supports the existence of nominal rigidity.