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Performance Pay and Wage Inequality

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Author Info
Thomas Lemieux
W. Bentley MacLeod
Daniel Parent

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Abstract

We document that an increasing fraction of jobs in the U.S. labor market explicitly pay workers for their performance using bonuses, commissions, or piece-rates. We find that compensation in performance-pay jobs is more closely tied to both observed (by the econometrician) and unobserved productive characteristics of workers. Moreover, the growing incidence of performance-pay can explain 24 percent of the growth in the variance of male wages between the late 1970s and the early 1990s, and accounts for nearly all of the top-end growth in wage dispersion(above the 80th percentile).

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 13128.

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Date of creation: May 2007
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13128

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods

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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.:
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  4. Daniel Parent, 1997. "Methods of Pay and Earnings: A Longitudinal Analysis," CIRANO Working Papers 97s-14, CIRANO. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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    Other versions:
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Full references

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.)

  1. Alan Manning & Farzad Saidi, 2008. "Understanding the Gender Pay Gap: Whats Competition Got to Do with It?," CEP Discussion Papers dp0898, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  2. B. Burcin Yurtoglu & Christine Zulehner, 2007. "The gender wage gap in top corporate jobs is still there," Vienna Economics Papers 0701, University of Vienna, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  3. Monojit Chatterji & Karen Mumford & Peter N Smith, 2007. "The Public-Private Sector Wage Differential: Gender, Workplaces and Family Friendliness," Discussion Papers 202, University of Dundee, Economic Studies. [Downloadable!]
  4. Stefania Albanesi & Claudia Olivetti, 2009. "Production, Market Production and the Gender Wage Gap: Incentives and Expectations," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 12(1), pages 80-107, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Jonathan Guryan & Kory Kroft & Matt Notowidigdo, 2007. "Peer Effects in the Workplace: Evidence from Random Groupings in Professional Golf Tournaments," NBER Working Papers 13422, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Sabrina Teyssier, 2008. "Les Modes de Rémunération comme MécanismesSélectifs de la Main d’oeuvre : Fondements Théoriques et Estimations Empiriques," Post-Print halshs-00303703_v1, HAL. [Downloadable!]
  7. Sabrina Teyssier, 2008. "Les Modes de Rémunération comme Mécanismes Sélectifs de la Main d’oeuvre : Fondements Théoriques et Estimations Empiriques," Working Papers 0818, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique (GATE), Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), Université Lyon 2, Ecole Normale Supérieure. [Downloadable!]
  8. Francesco Nucci & Marianna Riggi, . "The Great Moderation and Changes in the Structure of Labor Compensation," Working Papers 124, Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Public Economics. [Downloadable!]
  9. Florian Englmaier & Stephen Leider, 2008. "Contractual and Organizational Structure with Reciprocal Agents," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
  10. Thomas Lemieux, 2008. "The changing nature of wage inequality," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 21-48, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  11. Vicente Cuñat & Maria Guadalupe, 2009. "Globalization and the Provision of Incentives inside the Firm: The Effect of Foreign Competition," Economics Working Papers 1134, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  12. John S Heywood & Colin Green, 2008. "Profit Sharing and the Quality of Relations with the Boss," Working Papers 005698, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department. [Downloadable!]
  13. Hunnes, Arngrim & Kvaløy, Ola & Mohn, Klaus, 2009. "Performance appraisal and career opportunities: A case study," UiS Working Papers in Economics and Finance 2009/11, University of Stavanger. [Downloadable!]
  14. Karen E. Dynan & Douglas W. Elmendorf & Daniel E. Sichel, 2007. "The evolution of household income volatility," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2007-61, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
  15. Ola Kvaloy & Trond Olsen, 2007. "The Rise of Individual Performance Pay," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  16. Erling Barth, Bernt Bratsberg, Torbjørn Hægeland and Oddbjørn Raaum, 2008. "Performance Pay and Within-Firm Wage Inequality," Discussion Papers 535, Research Department of Statistics Norway. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  17. Kristin Kleinjans, 2008. "Do Gender Differences in Preferences for Competition Matter for Occupational Expectations?," Economics Working Papers 2008-09, School of Economics and Management, University of Aarhus. [Downloadable!]
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