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How many pears would a pear packer pack if a pear packer could pack pears at quasi-exogenously varying piece rates?

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  • Chang, Tom
  • Gross, Tal

Abstract

We examine labor supply using a unique dataset collected from a large pear-packing factory. Pear packers face both expected and unexpected shocks to their wages, and we use this to evaluate different models of inter-temporal labor supply. We find strong evidence for reference-dependent preferences, but only mixed support for models of rational-expectations-based targets.

Suggested Citation

  • Chang, Tom & Gross, Tal, 2014. "How many pears would a pear packer pack if a pear packer could pack pears at quasi-exogenously varying piece rates?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 1-17.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:99:y:2014:i:c:p:1-17
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2013.11.001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Ku, Hyejin, 2019. "The effect of wage subsidies on piece rate workers: Evidence from the Penny Per Pound program in Florida," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 122-134.
    2. Brodeur, Abel & Nield, Kerry, 2018. "An empirical analysis of taxi, Lyft and Uber rides: Evidence from weather shocks in NYC," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 1-16.
    3. Guiteras, Raymond P. & Jack, B. Kelsey, 2018. "Productivity in piece-rate labor markets: Evidence from rural Malawi," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 42-61.
    4. Nguyen, Ha Trong & Duncan, Alan S, 2017. "Exchange rate fluctuations and immigrants' labour market outcomes: New evidence from Australian household panel data," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 174-186.
    5. Barbos, Andrei & Kaisen, Joshua, 2022. "An Example of Negative Wage Elasticity for YouTube Content Creators," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 382-400.
    6. Jose Rojas-Fallas & J. Forrest Williams, 2020. "Wage Differences Matter: An Experiment of Social Comparison and Effort Provision when Wages Increase or Decrease," Games, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-12, December.
    7. Henry S. Farber, 2014. "Why You Can't Find a Taxi in the Rain and Other Labor Supply Lessons from Cab Drivers," Working Papers 583a, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    8. Stephen F. Hamilton & Timothy J. Richards & Aric P. Shafran & Kathryn N. Vasilaky, 2022. "Farm labor productivity and the impact of mechanization," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(4), pages 1435-1459, August.
    9. Tom Chang & Joshua Graff Zivin & Tal Gross & Matthew Neidell, 2016. "Particulate Pollution and the Productivity of Pear Packers," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 8(3), pages 141-169, August.
    10. Hammarlund, Cecilia, 2018. "A trip to reach the target? – The labor supply of Swedish Baltic cod fishermen," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 1-11.
    11. Timothy J. Richards, 2020. "Income Targeting and Farm Labor Supply," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(2), pages 419-438, March.
    12. Alessandro Saia, 2022. "Trouble Underground: Demand Shocks and the Labor Supply Behavior of New York City Taxi Drivers," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 8(1), pages 1-27, March.
    13. Lollo, Niklas & O’Rourke, Dara, 2018. "Productivity, Profits, and Pay: A Field Experiment Analyzing the Impacts of Compensation Systems in an Apparel Factory," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt31c4j2hz, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    14. Dupas, Pascaline & Robinson, Jonathan & Saavedra, Santiago, 2020. "The daily grind: Cash needs and labor supply," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 399-414.
    15. Beshir, H.A.; & Fichera, E.;, 2022. "“And Breathe Normally†: The Low Emission Zone impacts on health and well-being in England," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 22/09, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.

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