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Wages and Reciprocity in the Workplace

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Author Info
Abigail Barr (Centre for the Study of African Economies)
Pieter Serneels (Centre for the Study of African Economies)

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Abstract

We explore the role of reciprocity in wage determination by combining experimental and survey data. The experiment is similar to Berg, Dickhaut and McCabe's (1995) and is conducted with Ghanaian manufacturing workers. The survey relates to the same sample workers and the firms within which they are mployed. We find a strong positive association between individual reciprocity and individual wages. However, the direction of causality is unclear. Various aspects of the distribution of the tendency to reciprocate within an employee's workforce are also associated with that employee's wage and, in this case, there are strong arguments for a causal link is from former to latter. In particular, the mean, median, and minimum levels of reciprocity have a positive effect on wages, while the spread in the distribution (standard deviation) has a strong significant negative effect. This suggests that homogenous behaviour, or convergence to a norm, is rewarded. The results underline theimportance of behavioural characteristics and firm culture for the operation of the labour market.

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Paper provided by EconWPA in its series Development and Comp Systems with number 0409064.

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Length: 31 pages
Date of creation: 28 Sep 2004
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Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpdc:0409064

Note: Type of Document - pdf; pages: 31
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Related research
Keywords: wages; reciprocity; field experiment;

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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
C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments

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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. Matthias Benz & Stephan Meier, . "Do People Behave in Experiments as in the Field? – Evidence from Donations," IEW - Working Papers iewwp248, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
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  2. Olof Johansson Stenman & Minhaj Mahmud & Peter Martinsson, 2006. "Trust, Trust Games and Stated Trust: Evidence from Rural Bangladesh," Keele Economics Research Papers KERP 2006/11, Centre for Economic Research, Keele University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Jeffrey Carpenter & Erika Seki, 2005. "Do Social PreferencesIncrease Productivity? Field experimental evidence from fishermen in Toyoma Bay," Middlebury College Working Paper Series 0515, Middlebury College, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Steven D. Levitt & John A. List, 2008. "Field Experiments in Economics: The Past, The Present, and The Future," NBER Working Papers 14356, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Abigail Barr, 2004. "Rational and Biased Trust," Development and Comp Systems 0409068, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  6. repec:att:wimass:192057 is not listed on IDEAS
  7. James Andreoni, 2005. "Trust, Reciprocity, and Contract Enforcement: Experiments on Satisfaction Guaranteed," Levine's Bibliography 666156000000000679, UCLA Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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