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Wage inequality and overeducation in a model with efficiency wages

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Author Info
Peter Skott

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Abstract

This paper shows that the existence and persistence of `overeducation' can be explained by an extension of the efficiency wage model. When calibrated to fit the amounts of overeducation found in most empirical studies, the model implies that both the relative wage and the relative employment of high-skill workers depend inversely on aggregate economic activity. Keeping aggregate employment constant, furthermore, low-skill unemployment rises, following an increase in the relative supply of high-skill labour, and relative wages may be insensitive to changes in relative labour supplies. The model may help to explain rising wage inequality in some countries since the early 1970s.

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File URL: http://economics.ca/cgi/xms?jab=v39n1/05.pdf
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Publisher Info
Article provided by Canadian Economics Association in its journal Canadian Journal of Economics.

Volume (Year): 39 (2006)
Issue (Month): 1 (February)
Pages: 94-123
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Handle: RePEc:cje:issued:v:39:y:2006:i:1:p:94-123

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Skott, Peter, 2005. "Fairness as a source of hysteresis in employment and relative wages," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 57(3), pages 305-331, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Kimball, Miles S, 1994. "Labor-Market Dynamics When Unemployment is a Worker Discipline Device," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 1045-59, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Daly, Mary C. & Buchel, Felix & Duncan, Greg J., 2000. "Premiums and penalties for surplus and deficit education: Evidence from the United States and Germany," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 169-178, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Akerlof, George A, 1982. "Labor Contracts as Partial Gift Exchange," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 97(4), pages 543-69, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. David Card & Francis Kramarz & Thomas Lemieux, 1999. "Changes in the Relative Structure of Wages and Employment: A Comparison of the United States, Canada, and France," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 32(4), pages 843-877, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Shapiro, Carl & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1984. "Equilibrium Unemployment as a Worker Discipline Device," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(3), pages 433-44, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Dolton, Peter & Vignoles, Anna, 2000. "The incidence and effects of overeducation in the U.K. graduate labour market," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 179-198, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Hersch, Joni, 1991. "Education Match and Job Match," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(1), pages 140-44, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Sloane, P J & Battu, H & Seaman, P T, 1999. "Overeducation, Undereducation and the British Labour Market," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 31(11), pages 1437-53, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. A Felstead & D Gallie & F Green, 2000. "Computers are even more important than you thought: An Analysis of the changing skill-intensity of jobs," CEP Discussion Papers dp0439, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
  11. Bowles, Samuel, 1985. "The Production Process in a Competitive Economy: Walrasian, Neo-Hobbesian, and Marxian Models," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(1), pages 16-36, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Edward N. Wolff, 1998. "Technology and the Demand for Skills," Macroeconomics 9810004, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  13. Peter Skott & Paul Auerbach, 2004. "Wage inequality and skill asymmetries," Working Papers 2004-03, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  14. Sicherman, Nachum, 1991. ""Overeducation" in the Labor Market," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(2), pages 101-22, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Schlicht, Ekkehart, 2007. "Wage Dispersion and Overqualification as Entailed by Reder Competition," Economics Discussion Papers 2007-22, Kiel Institute for the World Economy. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Frederick Guy & Peter Skottz, 2005. "Power-Biased Technological Change and the Rise in Earnings Inequality," Working Papers 06, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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This page was last updated on 2009-11-25.

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