Firm Wage Differentials and Labor Market Sorting: Reconciling Theory and Evidence

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: de Melo, Rafael Lopes
• 署名单位: University of Edinburgh
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-3808
• DOI: 10.1086/695505
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 313-346
• 关键词: job search; equilibrium search; dispersion; unemployment; mobility; workers; models

摘要

Why do firms pay different wages? Empirical evidence suggests the presence of substantial differences in firm pay controlling for worker skill. Moreover, these differences are uncorrelated with skills, indicating the absence of sorting. I show that the face value interpretation is inconsistent with evidence on coworker segregation. I interpret the evidence by applying a sorting model and show that the correlation is biased. I identify nonmonotonicities in wages as the reason for this bias and show that a measure of worker-coworker sorting is more accurate. By calibrating the model to US data, I confirm that the model matches many job market characteristics.