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The public-private pay gap: a robust quantile approach

Author Info

Listed author(s):
  • Domenico Depalo
  • Raffaella Giordano

    ()

    (Bank of Italy
    Bank of Italy)

Abstract

We investigate the public-private pay gap in Italy in the period 1998-2008. Under random sampling we estimate an average wage di_erential in favour of public sector workers of about 14% for women and 4% for men, lower at the high tail of the wage distribution and in the Northern regions. The di_erential increases when also unobservable motivations that may induce workers to prefer employment in the public sector are considered, in particular above the median of the distribution, therefore suggesting that extra-motives may play an important role overall at higher wage levels.

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Article provided by GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University in its journal Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia.

Volume (Year): 70 (2011)
Issue (Month): 1 (January)
Pages: 25-64

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Handle: RePEc:gde:journl:gde_v70_n1_p25-64
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Keywords: public employment; wage di_erentials; wage determination;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - General
  • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
  • J45 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Public Sector Labor Markets
  • J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General

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  1. Fabien Postel-Vinay & Hélène Turon, 2007. "The Public Pay Gap in Britain: Small Differences That (Don't?) Matter," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(523), pages 1460-1503, October.
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  19. Gregory, Robert G. & Borland, Jeff, 1999. "Recent developments in public sector labor markets," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 53, pages 3573-3630 Elsevier.
  20. Chernozhukov, Victor & Hansen, Christian & Jansson, Michael, 2007. "Inference approaches for instrumental variable quantile regression," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 272-277, May.
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  22. Carlo V Fiorio & Francesco D'Amuri, 2005. "Workers' Tax Evasion in Italy," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 64(2-3), pages 247-270, November.
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Cited by:

  1. Antón, José-Ignacio & Muñoz de Bustillo, Rafael, 2013. "Public-private sector wage differentials in Spain. An updated picture in the midst of the Great Recession," MPRA Paper 48897, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  2. Domenico Depalo & Raffaela Giordano & Evangelia Papapetrou, 2015. "Public–private wage differentials in euro-area countries: evidence from quantile decomposition analysis," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 985-1015, November.
  3. repec:pra:mprapa:48888 is not listed on IDEAS
  4. Jelena Lausev, 2014. "WHAT HAS 20 YEARS OF PUBLIC–PRIVATE PAY GAP LITERATURE TOLD US? EASTERN EUROPEAN TRANSITIONING vs. DEVELOPED ECONOMIES," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 516-550, 07.
  5. Kollintzas, Tryphon & Papageorgiou, Dimitris & Vassilatos, Vanghelis, 2013. "A Neoclassical Growth Model for the Insiders – Outsiders Society," CEPR Discussion Papers 9640, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  6. Tryphon Kollintzas & Dimitris Papageorgiou & Efthymios Tsionas & Vanghelis Vassilatos, 2016. "Market and Political Power Interactions in Greece:An Empirical Investigation," Working Papers 201606, Athens University Of Economics and Business, Department of Economics.
  7. Gabriela Grotkowska & Leszek Wincenciak & Tomasz Gajderowicz, 2016. "Evolution of the public-sector wage premium in Poland," Working Papers 2016-13, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.

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