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The Mexican Wage Curve 2000-2003: A Quantile Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Hector Elias Gutierrez Rufrancos

    (Department of Economics, University of Sussex)

Abstract

This paper exploits the Mexican Encuesta Nacional de Empleo Urbano (ENEU) to determine the existence of the wage curve|an empirical phenomena rst suggested by Blanch ower and Oswald (1990)|during the period 2000{2003. We propose an innovative approach to the wage curve by estimating the elasticity across the wage dis- tribution. This is applied to the Mexican experience during the early 2000s recession. The evidence indicates that for Mexico during this period there is no wage curve, and that wages are positively a ected by local levels of unemployment. This lends credi- bility to the Harris and Todaro (1970) view which suggests that there is segmentation in the labour market with residual unemployment. We argue that perhaps the power of unions may account for our fndings.

Suggested Citation

  • Hector Elias Gutierrez Rufrancos, 2012. "The Mexican Wage Curve 2000-2003: A Quantile Analysis," Working Paper Series 3412, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    • Handle: RePEc:sus:susewp:3412
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    File URL: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/economics/documents/wps34-2012-hrufrancos.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Wage curve; unemployment; Formal/Informal Employment; Urban labour markets; Mexico;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General
    • J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - General
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements

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