IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/econom/v74y2007i295p515-536.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

O‐ring Wage Inequality

Author

Listed:
  • ALBERTO DALMAZZO
  • TUOMAS PEKKARINEN
  • PASQUALE SCARAMOZZINO

Abstract

We examine the relationship between technological complexity and wage inequality, using an efficiency wage model that adopts Kremer's O‐ring production function. The model has two main implications: (i) when the production process becomes more complex, within‐task wage differences increase between plants, and (ii) between‐task wage differences increase within plants. We study these implications empirically using industry data providing quantified information on the complexity of the tasks. We find that wages increase in all the tasks with the complexity of the production process. Furthermore, the relationship between the complexity of the tasks and wages is steepest in the firms with more complex production processes.

Suggested Citation

  • Alberto Dalmazzo & Tuomas Pekkarinen & Pasquale Scaramozzino, 2007. "O‐ring Wage Inequality," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 74(295), pages 515-536, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:econom:v:74:y:2007:i:295:p:515-536
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0335.2006.00553.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0335.2006.00553.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1468-0335.2006.00553.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kremer, M & Maskin, E, 1996. "Wage Inequality and Segregation by Skill," Working papers 96-23, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
    2. Layard, Richard & Nickell, Stephen & Jackman, Richard, 2005. "Unemployment: Macroeconomic Performance and the Labour Market," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199279173.
    3. Lawrence F. Katz, 1986. "Efficiency Wage Theories: A Partial Evaluation," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1986, Volume 1, pages 235-290, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ferrarini, Benno & Scaramozzino, Pasquale, 2016. "Production complexity, adaptability and economic growth," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 52-61.
    2. Benno Ferrarini & Pasquale Scaramozzino, 2013. "Complexity, Specialization and Growth," CEIS Research Paper 275, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 30 Apr 2013.
    3. Li Yu & Peter F. Orazem, 2014. "O-Ring production on U.S. hog farms: joint choices of farm size, technology, and compensation," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(4), pages 431-442, July.
    4. Fernández, Rosa M. & Nordman, Christophe J., 2009. "Are there pecuniary compensations for working conditions?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 194-207, April.
    5. Xiao Jie Liu & Haiyue Liu & Shi Yi Liu & Jim Huangnan Shen & Chien‐Chiang Lee, 2022. "Profit sharing, industrial upgrading, and global supply chains: Theory and evidence," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 2454-2493, November.
    6. Fumio Dei, 2010. "Peripheral Tasks Are Offshored," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(5), pages 807-817, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brown, Alessio J.G. & Merkl, Christian & Snower, Dennis J., 2011. "Comparing the effectiveness of employment subsidies," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 168-179, April.
    2. Olivier Blanchard & Lawrence F. Katz, 1997. "What We Know and Do Not Know about the Natural Rate of Unemployment," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 51-72, Winter.
    3. Huang, Tzu-Ling & Hallam, Arne & Orazem, Peter & Paterno, Elizabeth M., 1998. "Empirical Tests of Efficiency Wage Models," Staff General Research Papers Archive 1325, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    4. de Groot, H.L.F. & van Schaik, A.B.T.M., 1997. "Unemployment and catching up : Europe vis à vis the USA," Other publications TiSEM da7dcf42-9007-43df-a948-e, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    5. Corneo, Giacomo & Lucifora, Claudio, 1997. "Wage formation under union threat effects: Theory and empirical evidence," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 265-292, September.
    6. Bhalotra, Sonia., 2003. "The impact of economic liberalization on employment and wages in India," ILO Working Papers 993650543402676, International Labour Organization.
    7. Marco Pinto & Jochen Michaelis, 2014. "International Trade and Unemployment—the Worker-selection Effect," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 226-252, May.
    8. Dumont, Michel & Rayp, Glenn & Willemé, Peter, 2012. "The bargaining position of low-skilled and high-skilled workers in a globalising world," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 312-319.
    9. Liu, De-chih, 2021. "The Unemployment Invariance Hypothesis: Does the Gender Matter?," Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 62(2), pages 178-199, December.
    10. Sonia Bhalotra, 2006. "Near rationality in wage setting," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(21), pages 2513-2521.
    11. Pannone, Andrea, 2010. "Production, unemployment and wage flexibility in an ICT-assisted economy: A model," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 219-230, August.
    12. Fredrik Andersson & Harry J. Holzer & Julia I. Lane, 2002. "The interactions of workers and firms in the low-wage labor market," Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Technical Papers 2002-12, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    13. repec:ilo:ilowps:365054 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Pantuosco, Louis J. & Parker, Darrell & Seyfried, William & Lyman, Scott, 2002. "Macroeconomic Differences in Public and Private Union Density: An Analysis of U.S. State Economies," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 32(2), pages 171-186, Summer/Fa.
    15. Michelle Gilmartin & David Learmouth & J Kim Swales & Peter McGregor & Karen Turner, 2013. "Regional Policy Spillovers: The National Impact of Demand-Side Policy in an Interregional Model of the UK Economy," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(4), pages 814-834, April.
    16. Jae Song & David J Price & Fatih Guvenen & Nicholas Bloom & Till von Wachter, 2019. "Firming Up Inequality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(1), pages 1-50.
    17. Erkki Koskela & Ronnie Schöb, 2002. "Alleviating Unemployment: The Case for Green Tax Reforms," Chapters, in: Lawrence H. Goulder (ed.), Environmental Policy Making in Economies with Prior Tax Distortions, chapter 20, pages 355-378, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    18. Stephen Nickell, 1997. "Unemployment and Labor Market Rigidities: Europe versus North America," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 55-74, Summer.
    19. Chéron, Arnaud & Hairault, Jean-Olivier & Langot, François, 2004. "Labor Market Institutions and the Employment-Productivity Trade-Off: A Wage Posting Approach," IZA Discussion Papers 1364, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Sergio Destefanis & Matteo Fragetta & Giuseppe Mastromatteo & Nazzareno Ruggiero, 2020. "The Beveridge curve in the OECD before and after the great recession," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(3), pages 411-436, September.
    21. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/6120 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Milen Velev, 2015. "A research on the relationship between the unemployment rate and the inflation rate in Bulgaria," Economic Thought journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 1, pages 40-59,60-79.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:econom:v:74:y:2007:i:295:p:515-536. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.