IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mlb/wpaper/825.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Rat Races and Glass Ceilings: Career Paths in Organizations

Author

Listed:
  • Bardsley, P.
  • Sherstyuk, K.

Abstract

In an ongoing organization, such as a large law parternship firm, employees are motivated not only by current rewards but also by the prospect of promotion, and the opportunity to influence policy and make the rules in the future. This leads to a dynamic programming problem in contract design. We model career design in such a firm as a recursive mechanism design problem in an overlapping generations environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Bardsley, P. & Sherstyuk, K., 2001. "Rat Races and Glass Ceilings: Career Paths in Organizations," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 825, The University of Melbourne.
    • Handle: RePEc:mlb:wpaper:825
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.economics.unimelb.edu.au/downloads/wpapers-00-01/825.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Oded Galor & Nachum Sicherman, 1988. "A Theory of Career Mobility," Working Papers 1988-27, Brown University, Department of Economics.
    2. O'Flaherty, Brendan & Siow, Aloysius, 1995. "Up-or-Out Rules in the Market for Lawyers," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 13(4), pages 709-735, October.
    3. Beckmann, Martin J., 1984. "Hierarchy vs. partnership," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 237-245, June.
    4. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2000. "Gender Differences in Pay," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 75-99, Fall.
    5. Sicherman, Nachum & Galor, Oded, 1990. "A Theory of Career Mobility," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(1), pages 169-192, February.
    6. Stephen J. Spurr, 1990. "Sex Discrimination in the Legal Profession: A Study of Promotion," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 43(4), pages 406-417, July.
    7. Wood, Robert G & Corcoran, Mary E & Courant, Paul N, 1993. "Pay Differences among the Highly Paid: The Male-Female Earnings Gap in Lawyers' Salaries," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 11(3), pages 417-441, July.
    8. Jean-Jacques Laffont & Jean Tirole, 1993. "A Theory of Incentives in Procurement and Regulation," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262121743, December.
    9. Stoughton, Neal M & Talmor, Eli, 1999. "Managerial Bargaining Power in the Determination of Compensation Contracts and Corporate Investment," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 40(1), pages 69-93, February.
    10. Christopher Ferrall, 1996. "Promotions and Incentives in Partnerships: Evidence from Major U.S. Law Firms," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 29(4), pages 811-827, November.
    11. Tirole, Jean, 1986. "Procurement and Renegotiation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(2), pages 235-259, April.
    12. James Albrecht & Anders Bjorklund & Susan Vroman, 2003. "Is There a Glass Ceiling in Sweden?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(1), pages 145-177, January.
    13. Carr, Jack & Mathewson, Frank, 1990. "The Economics of Law Firms: A Study in the Legal Organization of the Firm," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(2), pages 307-330, October.
    14. Jacques Cremer, 1986. "Cooperation in Ongoing Organizations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 101(1), pages 33-49.
    15. George Akerlof, 1976. "The Economics of Caste and of the Rat Race and Other Woeful Tales," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 90(4), pages 599-617.
    16. Feinberg, Robert M, 1994. "Paralegals and Associate Lawyers: Substitutability within the Law Firm, 1977-87," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 76(2), pages 367-372, May.
    17. Bardsley, P., 2001. "Recursive Contracts," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 797, The University of Melbourne.
    18. Landers, Renee M & Rebitzer, James B & Taylor, Lowell J, 1996. "Rat Race Redux: Adverse Selection in the Determination of Work Hours in Law Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 329-348, June.
    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. Bardsley, P., 2001. "Recursive Contracts," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 797, The University of Melbourne.
    2. Dow,Gregory K., 2019. "The Labor-Managed Firm," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107589650, January.
    3. Peter Bardsley & Nisvan Erkal & Nikos Nikiforakis & Tom Wilkening, 2011. "Recursive Contracts, Firm Longevity, and Rat Races: Theory and Experimental Evidence," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 1122, The University of Melbourne, revised 2011.
    4. Nuno Garoupa & Fernando Gómez, 2002. "Cashing by the hour: Why large law firms prefer hourly fees over contingent fees," Economics Working Papers 639, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    5. Ina Ganguli & Ricardo Hausmann & Martina Viarengo, 2021. "Gender Differences in Professional Career Dynamics: New Evidence from a Global Law Firm," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 88(349), pages 105-128, January.
    6. Danilo Coelho & Marcelo Fernandes e Miguel N. Foguel, 2009. "Capital Estrangeiro e Diferenciais de Gênero nas Promoções: Evidências da Indústria de Transformação Brasileira," Discussion Papers 1447, Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada - IPEA.
    7. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2373-2437 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Hélène Périvier, 2008. "Les femmes sur le marché du travail aux Etats-Unis," Sciences Po publications 2008-12, Sciences Po.
    9. Hélène Périvier, 2009. "Les femmes sur le marché du travail aux États-Unis," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-02081114, HAL.
    10. Prat, Andrea, 2002. "Campaign Spending with Office-Seeking Politicians, Rational Voters, and Multiple Lobbies," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 103(1), pages 162-189, March.
    11. Steve Bradley & Colin Green & John Mangan, 2015. "Gender Wage Gaps within a Public Sector: Evidence from Personnel Data," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 83(4), pages 379-397, July.
    12. Hélène Périvier, 2007. "Les femmes sur le marché du travail aux États-Unis: Une mise en perspective avec la France et la Suède," Sciences Po publications info:hdl:2441/1203, Sciences Po.
    13. Oreopoulos, Philip & Heisz, Andrew, 2006. "The Importance of Signalling in Job Placement and Promotion," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2006236e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    14. Ferreira, Daniel & Nikolowa, Radoslawa, 2024. "Prestige, promotion, and pay," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118369, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. Michael Schwarz & Sergei Severinov, 2010. "Investment Tournaments: When Should a Rational Agent Put All Eggs in One Basket?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 28(4), pages 893-922, October.
    16. Matti Keloharju & Samuli Knüpfer & Joacim Tåg, 2022. "What prevents women from reaching the top?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 51(3), pages 711-738, September.
    17. Gregory Dow, 2014. "Partnership markets with adverse selection," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 18(2), pages 105-126, June.
    18. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1203 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Claudia Goldin, 2014. "A Grand Gender Convergence: Its Last Chapter," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(4), pages 1091-1119, April.
    20. Oreopoulos, Philip & Heisz, Andrew, 2006. "Importance des signaux de competence pour l'obtention d'un emploi et de l'avancement," Direction des études analytiques : documents de recherche 2006236f, Statistics Canada, Direction des études analytiques.
    21. Hélène Périvier, 2009. "Les femmes sur le marché du travail aux États-Unis. Évolutions mises en perspective avec celles de la France et de la Suède," Revue de l'OFCE, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 0(1), pages 49-84.
    22. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/eu4vqp9ompqllr09hahqp4sa4 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Kato, Takao & Ogawa, Hiromasa & Owan, Hideo, 2016. "Working Hours, Promotion and the Gender Gap in the Workplace," IZA Discussion Papers 10454, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    CONTRACTS ; GENERATIONS ; COSTS;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts
    • 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:mlb:wpaper:825. 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: Dandapani Lokanathan (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/demelau.html .

    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.