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Wage Policies of a Russian Firm and the Financial Crisis of 1998: Evidence from Personnel Data – 1997 to 2002

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Author Info
Dohmen, Thomas () (ROA, Maastricht University)
Lehmann, Hartmut () (University of Bologna)
Schaffer, Mark () (Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh)

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Abstract

We use a rich personnel data set from a Russian firm for the years 1997 to 2002 to analyze how the financial crisis in 1998 and the resulting change in external labor market conditions affect the wages and the welfare of workers inside a firm. We provide evidence that large shocks to external conditions affect the firm’s personnel policies, and show that the burden of the shock is not evenly spread across the workforce. The firm takes advantage of a high-inflationary environment and of a fall in workers’ outside options after the financial crisis and cuts real wages. Earnings are curbed most for those who earned the highest rents, resulting in a strong compression of real wages. The fact that real wages and real compensation levels never recovered to pre-crisis levels even though the firm’s financial situation was better in 2002 than before the crisis and the differential treatment of employee groups within the firm can be taken as evidence that market forces strongly influence the wage policies of our firm.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 3350.

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Length: 66 pages
Date of creation: Feb 2008
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Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3350

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Related research
Keywords: internal labor markets; wage policies of a firm; personnel data; Russia;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
P23 - Economic Systems - - Socialist Systems and Transition Economies - - - Factor and Product Markets; Industry Studies; Population

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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. Baker, George & Gibbs, Michael & Holmstrom, Bengt, 1994. "The Wage Policy of a Firm," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 109(4), pages 921-55, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. John S. Earle & Klara Z. Sabirianova, 2002. "How Late to Pay? Understanding Wage Arrears in Russia," Staff Working Papers 02-77, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Lerman, Robert I & Yitzhaki, Shlomo, 1985. "Income Inequality Effects by Income," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 67(1), pages 151-56, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Dohmen, Thomas J. & Pfann, Gerard A., 2000. "Worker Separations in a Nonstationary Corporate Environment," IZA Discussion Papers 201, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Bauer, Thomas & Bonin, Holger & Sunde, Uwe, 2003. "Real and Nominal Wage Rigidities and the Rate of Inflation: Evidence from West German Micro Data," IZA Discussion Papers 959, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Lehmann, Hartmut & Wadsworth, Jonathan & Acquisti, Alessandro, 1999. "Grime and Punishment: Job Insecurity and Wage Arrears in the Russian Federation," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 595-617, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Joseph G. Altonji & Paul J. Devereux, 1999. "The Extent and Consequences of Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity," NBER Working Papers 7236, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Dohmen, Thomas J., 2004. "Performance, seniority, and wages: formal salary systems and individual earnings profiles," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(6), pages 741-763, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Daniel S. Hamermesh & Gerard A. Pfann, 1996. "Adjustment Costs in Factor Demand," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 34(3), pages 1264-1292, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Gibbons, Robert & Waldman, Michael, 1999. "Careers in organizations: Theory and evidence," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 36, pages 2373-2437 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Fehr, Ernst & Goette, Lorenz, 2005. "Robustness and real consequences of nominal wage rigidity," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(4), pages 779-804, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Tito Boeri & Katherine Terrell, 2002. "Institutional Determinants of Labor Reallocation in Transition," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(1), pages 51-76, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Lazear, Edward P. & Oyer, Paul, 2004. "Internal and external labor markets: a personnel economics approach," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(5), pages 527-554, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Alejandro Lopez-Feldman, 2005. "DESCOGINI: Stata module to perform Gini decomposition by income source," Statistical Software Components S456001, Boston College Department of Economics, revised 22 Sep 2008. [Downloadable!]
  15. Abbigail J. Chiodo & Michael T. Owyang, 2002. "A case study of a currency crisis: the Russian default of 1998," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue Nov, pages 7-18. [Downloadable!]
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  1. Thomas Dohmen & Hartmut Lehmann & Anzelika Zaiceva, 2008. "The Gender Earnings Gap inside a Russian Firm: First Evidence from Personnel Data - 1997 to 2002 ; Updated Version," ESCIRRU Working Papers 6, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
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