IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/devchg/v28y1997i3p505-530.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Paradox of Narrowing Wage Differentials and Widening Wage Inequality in Mexico

Author

Listed:
  • Diana Alarcón González
  • Terry McKinley

Abstract

This article examines the parallel phenomena of narrowing wage differentials among major groups of workers and widening wage inequality in general in Mexico during the 1980s and 1990s. In trying to understand this paradox, it finds that a human‐capital model cannot explain wage determination in the 1990s. Although employees with higher skills and education have enjoyed increasingly higher relative returns to their human capital, much of the variance in wages is not attributable to differences in human capital or rates of return. Discriminatory wage policies have combined with policies of trade liberalization to markedly widen the wage gap between lower‐paid and higher‐paid workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Diana Alarcón González & Terry McKinley, 1997. "The Paradox of Narrowing Wage Differentials and Widening Wage Inequality in Mexico," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 28(3), pages 505-530, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:28:y:1997:i:3:p:505-530
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-7660.00052
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-7660.00052
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1467-7660.00052?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. David Fairris & Gurleen Popli & Eduardo Zepeda, 2008. "Minimum Wages and the Wage Structure in Mexico," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 66(2), pages 181-208.
    2. Asep Suryahadi, 2001. "Globalization and Wage Inequality in Indonesia: A CGE Analysis," Economics Study Area Working Papers 26, East-West Center, Economics Study Area.
    3. Suryahadi, A. & Chen, P. & Tyers, R., 1999. "Openness, Technological Change and Labor Demand in Pre-Crisis Indonesia," ANU Working Papers in Economics and Econometrics 1999-377, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics.
    4. Kimhi, Ayal, 2004. "Growth, Inequality and Labor Markets in LDCs: A Survey," Discussion Papers 289990, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Department of Agricultural Economics and Management.
    5. Giorgos Gouzoulis & Collin Constantine, 2020. "The Political Economy of Inequality in Chile and Mexico: Two Tales of Neoliberalism," Working Papers 235, Department of Economics, SOAS University of London, UK.
    6. Asep Suryahadi, 2001. "International Economic Integration and Labor Markets: The Case of Indonesia," Economics Study Area Working Papers 22, East-West Center, Economics Study Area.
    7. Alarcon, Diana & McKinley, Terry, 1997. "The rising contribution of labor income to inequality in Mexico," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 201-212.
    8. Gouzoulis, Giorgos & Constantine, Collin, 2020. "The Political Economy of Inequality in Chile and Mexico: Two Tales of Neoliberalism," SocArXiv gruzp, Center for Open Science.
    9. Hanig, Ross, 2006. "The Returns to Wages for Mexican Workers in a Post NAFTA World: Has the Gap in Returns to Wages Grown Between Mexican Workers in the U.S. and their Domestic Counterparts?," 2006 Annual meeting, July 23-26, Long Beach, CA 21385, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    10. Cortez, Willy W., 2001. "What is Behind Increasing Wage Inequality in Mexico?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(11), pages 1905-1922, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:28:y:1997:i:3:p:505-530. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0012-155X .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.