IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/tpr/restat/v90y2008i2p324-346.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Structure of Worker Compensation in Brazil, with a Comparison to France and the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Naércio Aquino Menezes-Filho

    (IBMEC-SP and University of São Paulo)

  • Marc-Andreas Muendler

    (University of California, San Diego, and CESifo)

  • Garey Ramey

    (University of California, San Diego)

Abstract

We employ comprehensive linked employer-employee data for Brazil to analyze wage determinants and compare results to Abowd et al. (2001) for French and U.S. manufacturing. While returns to human capital in Brazilian manufacturing exceed those of the other countries, occupation and gender differentials are similar. The worker-characteristics component accounts for much of the greater wage inequality in Brazil, but the establishment-fixed component has scant explanatory power. Thus, firm- or industry-level factors offer little scope for explaining the differences in wage inequality. Brazil's wage structure resembles that of France, a country with some similarity in labor market institutions. Copyright by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Suggested Citation

  • Naércio Aquino Menezes-Filho & Marc-Andreas Muendler & Garey Ramey, 2008. "The Structure of Worker Compensation in Brazil, with a Comparison to France and the United States," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(2), pages 324-346, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:90:y:2008:i:2:p:324-346
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/rest.90.2.324
    File Function: link to full text
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gonzaga, Gustavo & Menezes Filho, Naercio & Terra, Cristina, 2006. "Trade liberalization and the evolution of skill earnings differentials in Brazil," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 345-367, March.
    2. Lam, David & Schoeni, Robert F, 1993. "Effects of Family Background on Earnings and Returns to Schooling: Evidence from Brazil," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(4), pages 710-740, August.
    3. Naércio Aquino Menezes Filho & Marc-Andreas Muendler, 2007. "Labor Reallocation in Response to Trade Reform," CESifo Working Paper Series 1936, CESifo.
    4. Velenchik, Ann D., 1997. "Government intervention, efficiency wages, and the employer size wage effect in Zimbabwe," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 305-338, August.
    5. Juan C. Botero & Simeon Djankov & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2004. "The Regulation of Labor," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(4), pages 1339-1382.
    6. repec:bla:etrans:v:11:y:2003-06:i:2:p:253-290 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. John M. Abowd & Francis Kramarz & David N. Margolis, 1999. "High Wage Workers and High Wage Firms," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 67(2), pages 251-334, March.
    8. Behrman, Jere R., 1999. "Labor markets in developing countries," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 43, pages 2859-2939, Elsevier.
    9. J. S. Arbache, 2001. "Wage Differentials in Brazil: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(2), pages 109-130.
    10. repec:bla:revinw:v:44:y:1998:i:2:p:239-57 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. David S. Kaplan & Raymond Robertson & Gabriel Martínez González, 2005. "What Happens to Wages after Displacement?," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Spring 20), pages 197-242, January.
    12. John J. Abowd & John Haltiwanger & Julia Lane, 2004. "Integrated Longitudinal Employer-Employee Data for the United States," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(2), pages 224-229, May.
    13. Shorrocks, A F, 1982. "Inequality Decomposition by Factor Components," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(1), pages 193-211, January.
    14. Gustavo Gonzaga, 2003. "Labor Turnover and Labor Legislation in Brazil," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Fall 2003), pages 165-222, August.
    15. Fabien Postel-Vinay & Jean-Marc Robin, 2002. "Equilibrium Wage Dispersion with Worker and Employer Heterogeneity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(6), pages 2295-2350, November.
    16. Haltiwanger, John C. & Vodopivec, Milan, 2002. "Worker Flows, Job Flows and Firm Wage Policies: An Analysis of Slovenia," IZA Discussion Papers 569, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Klein, Roger W & Spady, Richard H, 1993. "An Efficient Semiparametric Estimator for Binary Response Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 61(2), pages 387-421, March.
    18. Schaffner, Julie Anderson, 1998. "Premiums to employment in larger establishments: evidence from Peru," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 81-113, February.
    19. Mahmood Arai, 2003. "Wages, Profits, and Capital Intensity: Evidence from Matched Worker-Firm Data," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(3), pages 593-618, July.
    20. John Haltiwanger & Milan Vodopivec, 2003. "Worker flows, job flows and firm wage policies," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 11(2), pages 253-290, June.
    21. Funkhouser, Edward, 1998. "The importance of firm wage differentials in explaining hourly earnings variation in the large-scale sector of Guatemala," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 115-131, February.
    22. Arbache, Jorge Saba & Dickerson, Andy & Green, Francis, 2004. "Assessing the stability of the inter-industry wage structure in the face of radical economic reforms," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 149-155, May.
    23. Fishlow, Albert, 1972. "Brazilian Size Distribution of Income," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(2), pages 391-402, May.
    24. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    25. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/c8dmi8nm4pdjkuc9g8grh35j2 is not listed on IDEAS
    26. Abowd, John M. & Kramarz, Francis & Margolis, David N. & Troske, Kenneth R., 2001. "The Relative Importance of Employer and Employee Effects on Compensation: A Comparison of France and the United States," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 419-436, December.
    27. Alejandra Mizala & Pilar Romaguera, 1998. "Wage Differentials And Occupational Wage Premia: Firm‐Level Evidence For Brazil And Chile," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 44(2), pages 239-256, June.
    28. Fabien Postel-Vinay & Jean-Marc Robin, 2002. "Equilibrium Wage Dispersion with Worker and Employer Heterogeneity," Post-Print hal-03458567, HAL.
    29. O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), 1999. "Handbook of Labor Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 3, number 3.
    30. repec:eee:labchp:v:1:y:1986:i:c:p:525-602 is not listed on IDEAS
    31. Mitali Das & Whitney K. Newey & Francis Vella, 2003. "Nonparametric Estimation of Sample Selection Models," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 70(1), pages 33-58.
    32. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2629-2710 is not listed on IDEAS
    33. Francisco Carneiro & Andrew Henley, 1998. "Wage determination in Brazil: The growth of union bargaining power and informal employment," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(4), pages 117-138.
    34. Abowd, John M. & Kramarz, Francis, 1999. "The analysis of labor markets using matched employer-employee data," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 40, pages 2629-2710, Elsevier.
    35. Dobbelaere, Sabien, 2004. "Ownership, firm size and rent sharing in Bulgaria," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 165-189, April.
    36. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/dc0ckec3fcb29ms985085gkbp is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Krishna, Pravin & Poole, Jennifer P. & Senses, Mine Zeynep, 2014. "Wage Effects of Trade Reform with Endogenous Worker Mobility," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(2), pages 239-252.
    2. Elhanan Helpman & Oleg Itskhoki & Marc-Andreas Muendler & Stephen J. Redding, 2017. "Trade and Inequality: From Theory to Estimation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 84(1), pages 357-405.
    3. Christophe Muller & Christophe Nordman, 2004. "Which Human Capital Matters For Rich And Poor'S Wages: Evidence From Matched Worker-Firm Data From Tunisia," Working Papers. Serie AD 2004-28, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    4. Beatriz Muriel Hernández, 2016. "An Analysis of Firm Characteristics as Earnings Determinants: The Urban Bolivia Case," Development Research Working Paper Series 04/2016, Institute for Advanced Development Studies.
    5. Martins, Pedro S. & Esteves, Luiz A., 2006. "Is There Rent Sharing in Developing Countries? Matched-Panel Evidence from Brazil," IZA Discussion Papers 2317, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Pedro S. Martins & Luiz A. Esteves, 2012. "Wages and Profits in Manufacturing Firms: Matched-Panel Evidence from Brazil," Economia, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics], vol. 13(3b), pages 815-841.
    7. Øivind A. Nilsen & Arvid Raknerud & Terje Skjerpen, 2017. "Estimation of a model for matched panel data with high-dimensional two-way unobserved heterogeneity," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 53(4), pages 1657-1680, December.
    8. Leuven, Edwin & Jolivet, Grégory & Bonhomme, Stéphane, 2012. "Job Characteristics and Labor Turnover: Assessing the Role of Preferences and Opportunities in Teacher Mobility," CEPR Discussion Papers 8841, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. David Card & Ana Rute Cardoso & Joerg Heining & Patrick Kline, 2018. "Firms and Labor Market Inequality: Evidence and Some Theory," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(S1), pages 13-70.
    10. Simon Jäger & Benjamin Schoefer & Samuel Young & Josef Zweimüller, 2020. "Wages and the Value of Nonemployment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(4), pages 1905-1963.
    11. Moser, Christian, 2016. "How Could Wage Inequality Within and Across Enterprises be Reduced?," MPRA Paper 95381, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Mestieri, Martí & Basco, Sergi & Smagghue, Gabriel & Liegey, Maxime, 2020. "The Heterogeneous Effects of Trade across Occupations: A Test of the Stolper-Samuelson Theorem," CEPR Discussion Papers 15186, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Elhanan Helpman & Oleg Itskhoki & Stephen Redding, 2010. "Inequality and Unemployment in a Global Economy," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 78(4), pages 1239-1283, July.
    14. Katarína Borovičková & Robert Shimer, 2017. "High Wage Workers Work for High Wage Firms," NBER Working Papers 24074, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Gruetter, Max & Lalive, Rafael, 2009. "The importance of firms in wage determination," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 149-160, April.
    16. Woodcock Simon D, 2010. "Heterogeneity and Learning in Labor Markets," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-69, September.
    17. Vincenzo Scoppa, 2014. "Firm Size and Wages in Italy: Evidence from Exogenous Job Displacements," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 82(6), pages 677-700, December.
    18. Patrick Kline & Neviana Petkova & Heidi Williams & Owen Zidar, 2019. "Who Profits from Patents? Rent-Sharing at Innovative Firms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(3), pages 1343-1404.
    19. David Arnold, 2019. "The Impact of Privatization of State-Owned Enterprises on Workers," Working Papers 625, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    20. Cornelissen, Thomas & Hübler, Olaf, 2007. "Unobserved Individual and Firm Heterogeneity in Wage and Tenure Functions: Evidence from German Linked Employer-Employee Data," IZA Discussion Papers 2741, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:90:y:2008:i:2:p:324-346. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kelly McDougall (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://direct.mit.edu/journals .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.