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Formal Measures of the Informal Sector Wage Gap in Mexico, El Salvador, and Peru Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics Douglas Marcouiller, S.J. () (Boston College)
Veronica Ruiz de Castilla (University of Texas-Austin)
Christopher Woodruff (University of California-San Diego)
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Using comparable micro-level data from three countries, we ask what type of person works in the informal sector and whether informal workers earn lower wages than observationally equivalent workers in the formal sector. The characteristics of informal workers are similar across countries. Surprisingly, when we control for these personal characteristics, we find a significant wage premium associated with formal employment in El Salvador and Peru but a premium associated with work in the informal sector in Mexico. A model of endogenous selection offers little help in explaining the differences in wage patterns. The research casts doubt on the received wisdom that the informal sector, always and everywhere, is a poorly-paid but easily- entered refuge for those who have no other employment opportunities.
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Paper provided by Boston College Department of Economics in its series Boston College Working Papers in Economics with number
294..
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Length: 30 pages
Date of creation: Mar 1995Date of revision:
Publication status: published, Economic Development and Cultural Change, 1997, 45, 367-392.Handle: RePEc:boc:bocoec:294Contact details of provider: Postal: Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Chestnut Hill MA 02467 USA Phone: 617-552-3670 Fax: +1-617-552-2308 Email: Web page: http://fmwww.bc.edu/EC/ More information through EDIRC
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Christopher F Baum).
Keywords: Informal sector ; wage differentials ; Mexico ; El Salvador ; Peru ; Other versions of this item:
Article Marcouiller, Douglas & Ruiz de Castilla, Veronica & Woodruff, Christopher, 1997.
"Formal Measures of the Informal-Sector Wage Gap in Mexico, El Salvador, and Peru ,"
Economic Development and Cultural Change ,
University of Chicago Press, vol. 45(2), pages 367-92, January.
Find related papers by JEL classification: O17 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
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