The purpose of this paper is to see if an equilibrium model of compensating differences for amenities can be applied to a major transition economy, Russia. We analyze Russian labor and housing markets using data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) augmented by city and regional-specific characteristics from other sources. Our estimated wage and housing value equations suggest that workers are compensated for differences in climate, environmental conditions, ethnic conflicts, crime rates, and health conditions, after controlling for worker characteristics, occupation, industry, and economic conditions, and various housing characteristics. We find evidence that these compensating differentials exist even after controlling for the regional pay differences ("regional coefficients") used by the Russian government to compensate public sector workers for living in regions that are designated as less desirable. Quality of life, as measured by a group of eleven amenities, varies substantially. The highest ranked cities tend to be in relatively warm areas and areas in the western, European part of the country. Our quality of life index is positively correlated with net migration into a region, suggesting workers are attracted to amenity-rich locations. Overall, we find that a model of compensating differentials with controls for disequilibrium yields useful information about compensation for location-specific amenities and quality of life in this large transition economy.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.
Volume (Year): 63 (2008) Issue (Month): 1 (January) Pages: 25-55 Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML
(with abstract),
plain text
(with abstract),
BibTeX,
RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite),
ReDIF
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.:
William D. Nordhaus & James Tobin, 1973.
"Is Growth Obsolete?,"
NBER Chapters,
in: The Measurement of Economic and Social Performance, pages 509-564
National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!]
William D. Nordhaus & James Tobin, 1972.
"Is Growth Obsolete?,"
NBER Chapters,
in: Economic Research: Retrospect and Prospect Vol 5: Economic Growth, pages 1-80
National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!]
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.)