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Rent-sharing and the cyclicality of wage differentials

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  • Philip Du Caju
  • François Rycx
  • Ilan Tojerow

Abstract

This paper investigates inter-industry wage differentials (IWD) in Belgium, taking advantage of a unique matched employer-employee dataset covering the years 1999-2005. Findings show the existence of large wage differentials among workers with the same observed characteristics and working conditions, employed in different sectors. These differentials are persistent and no particular trend is observed. However, their dispersion appears to show a cyclical pattern over time. Further results indicate that the instrumented elasticity between wages and profits is found to be quite stable over time and varies between 0.034 and 0.043. This rent-sharing phenomenon accounts for a large fraction of IWDs.

Suggested Citation

  • Philip Du Caju & François Rycx & Ilan Tojerow, 2008. "Rent-sharing and the cyclicality of wage differentials," DULBEA Working Papers 08-23.RS, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
  • Handle: RePEc:dul:wpaper:08-23rs
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Industry wage differentials; Rent-sharing; Matched employer-employee data.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts

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