An Empirical Model of Wage Dispersion with Sorting

(negative) sorting results if the match production function is supermodular (submodular). If the production function is modular, no sorting obtains. We propose an identification strategy that allows identification of not only the presence of sorting in matching, but also the type of sorting, negative or positive. Like Eeckhout and Kircher (2008) we find that the commonly used wage decomposition in Abowd, Kramarz, and Margolis (1999) does not in itself identify sorting, although the mechanisms that lead to lack of identification in our model differ from that of the partnership model studied in Eeckhout and Kircher (2008).