The Impact of Ford Motor Company's Voluntary Equal Wage Policy on Detroit's Wage Gap in the 1940s

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Lanning, Jonathan A.; Reynolds, C. Lockwood
• 署名单位: Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - Chicago; University System of Ohio; Kent State University; Kent State University Kent; Kent State University Salem
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF LABOR ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0734-306X
• DOI: 10.1086/715118
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 505-541
• 关键词: labor-market; racial-discrimination; propensity score

摘要

We analyze the impact of Ford Motor Company's compensation practices on the Detroit-area labor market from 1918 to 1947. Previous studies imply that Ford paid race-independent wages, but its Black workers were sorted into undesirable departments. We extend these results using propensity score reweighting of census data and Ford's records and confirm that Ford paid equal wages. We then develop a search model with discriminatory and equal wage firms to assess the impact of Ford's policy on the larger labor market. Calibrated simulations suggest that Ford may have reduced the wage gap in southeastern Michigan by as much as 50%.