Autore
CARDOSO, Ana Rute

Titolo
Workers or employers: who is shaping wage inequality?
Periodico
European University Institute of Badia Fiesolana (Fi). Department of Economics - Working papers
Anno: 1996 - Fascicolo: 2 - Pagina iniziale: 1 - Pagina finale: 28

An extensive micro data set matching firms, establishments and their employees, is used to study the determinants of earnings inequality in Portugal and its evolution from 1983 to 1992, with the Theil index, its decomposition, and the decomposition of its change as tools of analysis. The relevance of both worker and employer attributes in shaping earnings inequality and its trend is quantified. The impact of the firm on wage inequality in a European country is compared to the situation in the USA, where a different institutional framework is often believed to grant firms more autonomy in wage setting. The impact of the firm is indeed slightly lower in Portugal than in the USA, suggesting that a more centralised and regulated European bargaining system might reduce the scope for firm action. A profile of an economy undergoing modernisation, where rising labour market inequality signalled the lack of an adequate labour force, can be drawn. An upgrading of the quality of the labour force, accompanied by rising returns to skill and schooling and declining returns to age is detected, while firms shifted towards more flexible structures.



Testo completo: http://hdl.handle.net/1814/573

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