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Are Interregional Wage Differentials in Russia Compensative?

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Author Info
Aleksey Oshchepkov
Abstract

Interregional differentials in nominal wages in the Russian Federation are huge compared to other countries. Using the NOBUS micro-data and a methodology based on the estimation of the wage equation augmented by aggregate regional characteristics, we show that these differentials have a compensative nature. Russian workers receive wage compensations for living in regions with a higher price level and worse non-pecuniary characteristics, such as a relatively low life expectancy, a high level of air pollution, poor medical services and a colder climate. After adjusting for these regional characteristics, the relative ranking of regions in terms of average wages changes considerably. Moreover, regional nominal wages become positively correlated with interregional migration flows. According to our estimates, half of the interregional wage variation between workers with similar productive characteristics should be considered to be compensative. These results support the view that the best policy reaction to the current high interregional wage differentials should be the removal of migration barriers and a reduction in migration costs. In general, our results show that wage compensations for regional disamenities along with differences in employment composition are able to account for about three fourths of the observed interregional variation in wages.

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Paper provided by DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research in its series Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin with number 750.

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Length: 40 p.
Date of creation: 2007
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Handle: RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp750

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Related research
Keywords: compensating differentials; regional wages; wage equation; interregional migration; transition; Russia;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies
P2 - Economic Systems - - Socialist Systems and Transition Economies
R1 - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - - General Regional Economics
R2 - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - - Household Analysis

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