Are Shirking and Leisure Substitutable? An Empirical Test of Efficiency Wages Based on Urban Economic Theory

Are Shirking and Leisure Substitutable? An Empirical Test of Efficiency Wages Based on Urban Economic Theory

Author: Stephen L. Ross

Publisher:

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 44

ISBN-13:

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Recent theoretical work has examined the spatial distribution of unemployment using the efficiency wage model as the mechanism by which unemployment arises in the urban economy. This paper extends the standard efficiency wage model in order to allow for behavioral substitution between leisure time at home and effort at work. In equilibrium, residing at a location with a long commute affects the time available for leisure at home and therefore affects the trade-off between effort at work and risk of unemployment. This model implies an empirical relationship between expected commutes and labor market outcomes, which is tested using the Public Use Microdata sample of the 2000 U.S. Decennial Census. The empirical results suggest that efficiency wages operate primarily for blue collar workers, i.e. workers who tend to be in occupations that face higher levels of supervision. For this subset of workers, longer commutes imply higher levels of unemployment and higher wages, which are both consistent with shirking and leisure being substitutable.


Efficiency Wage Theory, Labor Markets, and Adjustment

Efficiency Wage Theory, Labor Markets, and Adjustment

Author: Luis A. Riveros

Publisher:

Published: 1991

Total Pages: 44

ISBN-13:

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Efficiency wage theory suggests that wages (and hence labor markets) may be unresponsive to typical macroeconomic policies that seek to lower real wages, change resource allocation, and reduce open unemployment. Under this theory, firms will react to macroeconomic shocks by altering employment (laying workers off), not wages.


Efficiency Wages

Efficiency Wages

Author: Andrew Weiss

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2014-07-14

Total Pages: 126

ISBN-13: 140086206X

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Known for his seminal work in efficiency-wage theory, Andrew Weiss surveys recent research in the field and presents new results. He shows how wage schedules affect the kinds of workers a firm employs and how well those workers perform on the job. Using straightforward examples, he demonstrates how efficiency-wage theory can explain labor market outcomes and guide government policy. There is a separate section of applications to less developed countries. "Efficiency-wage models represent one of the most important developments in economic theory of recent years. They have, at last, provided integrated explanations both of macroeconomic phenomena, such as unemployment and wage rigidity, and microeconomic phenomena, such as wage dispersion. Weiss--one of the pioneers of efficiency-wage theory--provides here a masterful survey, a lucid and systematic and yet critical account of this rapidly developing branch of economics. This book should be required reading in all courses in macroeconomics."--Joseph Stiglitz, Stanford University "Efficiency Wages should be on the bookshelf of all labor and macroeconomists."--Lawrence H. Summers, Harvard University "A splendid monograph ... most readable... I will put it on my reading list."--Partha Dasgupta, Stanford University Originally published in 1991. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.


A Study on the Trade-off Between Supervision and Wages

A Study on the Trade-off Between Supervision and Wages

Author: Min-Hong Oh

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

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This dissertation investigates the applicability of the shirking version of efficiency wage models in Korea. Analyses is based on the Survey on Wage Structure in the 1980's and 1990's - using data collected in 1983, 1989, 1993, 1996, and 1999. Efficiency wage theory predicts a negative relationship between supervision and wages: employers may choose either to pay a wage premium or to increase the level of supervisory intensity to force workers to exert more effort. The relation between supervisory intensity, as measured by the ratio of supervisors to supervisees in a firm, and wages is explored. Interaction effects between supervisory intensity and employer characteristics on wages are also investigated in more detailed analyses. Finally, we explore whether supervisory intensity is able to explain inter-industry wage differentials. The evidence suggests that supervisory intensity is positively correlated with wages, implying the efficiency wage model is not applicable in Korea. Industrial interaction analysis shows weak evidence of efficiency wages in the social service sector, but there are no apparent patterns in other industries. In occupational interaction analysis, efficiency wages are paid to drivers and sales workers. Although supervisory intensity does not explain wage variation across industries, there are significant inter-industry wage differentials observed in Korea.


A Simple Test of the Shirking Model

A Simple Test of the Shirking Model

Author: Alan Manning

Publisher:

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 48

ISBN-13:

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Using on data from the 1987/88 UK Survey of Incomes In and Out of Work, proposes a simple test of one prominent version of the efficiency wage model, the shirking model of Shapiro and Stiglitz (1984) which focuses directly on the issue of whether involuntary unemployment exists or not.