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Ranking Firms Using Revealed Preference

Author

Listed:
  • Isaac Sorkin

    (Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and University of Michigan)

Abstract

Firms account for a substantial share of earnings inequality. Although the standard expla- nation for why is that search frictions support an equilibrium with rents, this paper finds that compensating differentials are at least as important. To reach this finding, this paper develops a structural search model and estimates it on U.S. administrative data with 1.5 million firms and 100 million workers. The model analyzes the revealed preference information contained in how workers move between firms. Compensating differentials are revealed when workers systemat- ically move to lower-paying firms, while rents are revealed when workers systematically move to higher-paying firms. With the number of parameters proportional to the number of firms (1.5 million), standard estimation approaches are infeasible. The paper develops an estimation approach that is feasible for data on this scale. The approach uses tools from numerical linear algebra to measure central tendency of worker flows, which is closely related to the ranking of firms revealed by workers’ choices.

Suggested Citation

  • Isaac Sorkin, 2016. "Ranking Firms Using Revealed Preference," 2016 Meeting Papers 66, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:sed016:66
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    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
    • J32 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Retirement Plans; Private Pensions
    • J42 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Monopsony; Segmented Labor Markets

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