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A search model with endogenous job destruction and discrimination: Why equal wage policies may not eliminate wage disparity

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  • Lanning, Jonathan A.

Abstract

This paper extends the search with discrimination framework by introducing jobs that are constrained by equal wage policies, and endogenous job destruction that creates Becker-like competitive pressure on prejudiced firms. The model predicts a number of stylized facts observed in the U.S. labor market, including persistent aggregate wage inequality, prevalent within-firm wage equality, overlapping wage distributions for different worker types, and some, but imperfect, job sorting/segregation. Numeric simulations are offered to illustrate some of the model's predictions. These include a counterintuitive relationship between wage inequality and equal wage policies that can arise in special cases: under specific assumptions equal wage policies can actually increase the steady-state level of market discrimination. I discuss this result's implication that different policies may be optimal to combat discrimination based on race versus discrimination based on gender, though this finding may be of limited practical importance.

Suggested Citation

  • Lanning, Jonathan A., 2014. "A search model with endogenous job destruction and discrimination: Why equal wage policies may not eliminate wage disparity," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 55-71.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:26:y:2014:i:c:p:55-71
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2013.11.001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Diego Gentile Passaro & Fuhito Kojima & Bobak Pakzad-Hurson, 2023. "Equal Pay for Similar Work," Papers 2306.17111, arXiv.org.
    2. Wei-Bin ZHANG, 2014. "Gender Discrimination, Education and Economic Growth in a Generalized Uzawa-Lucas Two-Sector Model," Timisoara Journal of Economics and Business, West University of Timisoara, Romania, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, vol. 7(1), pages 1-34.
    3. Jonathan Lain, 2019. "Discrimination in a search and matching model with self-employment," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 9(1), pages 1-35, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labor discrimination; Antidiscrimination policy; Search; Wage differentials;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • J78 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Public Policy (including comparable worth)
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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