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Accounting for Changing Inequality in Costa Rica, 1980-1999

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Author Info
T. H. Gindling ()
Juan Diego Trejos ()

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Abstract

After declining from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, earnings inequality in Costa Rica stabilized from 1987 to 1992 and then increased from 1992 to 1999. In this paper we use recently-developed techniques to measure the extent to which these changes in earnings inequality were the result of changes associated with the distributions (or .quantities.) of personal and work place characteristics of workers, and the earnings differences (or .prices.) associated with those characteristics. We present evidence that the most important cause of the fall in inequality prior to 1987 was a decline in returns to education, which in turn was caused by an increase in the supply of more-educated workers. We find that the most important causes of rising inequality in the 1990s were the end of this decline in returns to education and increases in the variance of hours worked among workers. Inequality in hours worked increased because of an increase in the proportion of workers working a non-standard work week (part-time or over-time)

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Paper provided by UMBC Department of Economics in its series UMBC Economics Department Working Papers with number 03-108.

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Length: 37 pages
Date of creation: Dec 2003
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Handle: RePEc:umb:econwp:03108

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Keywords: inequality; Latin America; labor;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution

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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. Robbins, Donald & Gindling, T H, 1999. "Trade Liberalization and the Relative Wages for More-Skilled Workers in Costa Rica," Review of Development Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 3(2), pages 140-54, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Fields, Gary S & Yoo, Gyeongjoon, 2000. "Falling Labor Income Inequality in Korea's Economic Growth: Patterns and Underlying Causes," Review of Income and Wealth, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 46(2), pages 139-59, June.
  3. Knight, J B & Sabot, R H, 1983. "Educational Expansion and the Kuznets Effect," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(5), pages 1132-36, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Gindling, T H, 1993. "Women's Wages and Economic Crisis in Costa Rica," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 41(2), pages 277-97, January.
  5. Goldberg, Pinelopi Koujianou & Pavcnik, Nina, 2003. "Trade, Wages and the Political Economy of Trade Protection: Evidence from the Colombian Trade Reforms," CEPR Discussion Papers 3877, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Berman, Eli & Bound, John & Griliches, Zvi, 1994. "Changes in the Demand for Skilled Labor within U.S. Manufacturing: Evidence from the Annual Survey of Manufactures," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 109(2), pages 367-97, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Gindling, T. H. & Robbins, Donald, 2001. "Patterns and Sources of Changing Wage Inequality in Chile and Costa Rica During Structural Adjustment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 725-745, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. David H. Autor & Lawrence F. Katz & Alan B. Krueger, 1998. "Computing Inequality: Have Computers Changed The Labor Market?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 113(4), pages 1169-1213, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Katz, Lawrence F. & Autor, David H., 1999. "Changes in the wage structure and earnings inequality," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 26, pages 1463-1555 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Robinson, Sherman, 1976. "A Note on the U Hypothesis Relating Income Inequality and Economic Development," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(3), pages 437-40, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Funkhouser, Edward, 1998. "Changes in the returns to education in Costa Rica," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 289-317. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Juhn, Chinhui & Murphy, Kevin M & Pierce, Brooks, 1993. "Wage Inequality and the Rise in Returns to Skill," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(3), pages 410-42, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Shorrocks, A F, 1982. "Inequality Decomposition by Factor Components," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(1), pages 193-211, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
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  1. Gindling, T. H. & Oviedo, Luis, 2008. "Single Mothers and Poverty in Costa Rica," IZA Discussion Papers 3286, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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