The Agricultural Wage Gap: Evidence from Brazilian Micro-data

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Alvarez, Jorge A.
• 署名单位: International Monetary Fund
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-MACROECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7707
• DOI: 10.1257/mac.20170436
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 153-173
• 关键词: trade liberalization; PRODUCTIVITY; migration; misallocation; INEQUALITY; EFFICIENCY; selection

摘要

A key feature of developing economies is that wages in agriculture are below those of other sectors. Using Brazilian household surveys and administrative panel data, I use information on workers who switch sectors and workers with multiple jobs to assess the role of worker composition in explaining this gap. The evidence is consistent with the presence of significant intersector sorting in Brazil. A calibrated sorting model can account for the wage gap level observed, as well as its decline, as the economy transitioned out of agriculture.