IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/manchs/v92y2024i3p296-312.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Relative performance evaluation and wage inequality

Author

Listed:
  • Jiancai Pi
  • Zixin Li

Abstract

This paper studies the impact of relative performance evaluation (RPE) on skilled‐unskilled wage inequality. We find that in an economy with full employment, skilled‐unskilled wage inequality will be expanded when the strength of RPE increases. However, when the urban sector is under the minimum wage restriction, the impact of RPE on skilled‐unskilled wage inequality depends on the substitution elasticity between land and unskilled labor in the rural sector. If this substitution elasticity is sufficiently large (resp. small), skilled‐unskilled wage inequality will be expanded (resp. narrowed down) when the strength of RPE rises.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiancai Pi & Zixin Li, 2024. "Relative performance evaluation and wage inequality," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 92(3), pages 296-312, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:manchs:v:92:y:2024:i:3:p:296-312
    DOI: 10.1111/manc.12469
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/manc.12469
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/manc.12469?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. Sandeep Kapur & Allan Timmermann, 2005. "Relative Performance Evaluation Contracts and Asset Market Equilibrium," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(506), pages 1077-1102, October.
    2. Han, Jinhui & Ma, Guiyuan & Yam, Sheung Chi Phillip, 2022. "Relative performance evaluation for dynamic contracts in a large competitive market," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 302(2), pages 768-780.
    3. Gong, Guojin & Li, Laura Yue & Yin, Huifang, 2019. "Relative performance evaluation and the timing of earnings release," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 358-386.
    4. Robert Gibbons & Kevin J. Murphy, 1990. "Relative Performance Evaluation for Chief Executive Officers," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 43(3), pages 30, April.
    5. Fershtman, Chaim & Judd, Kenneth L, 1987. "Equilibrium Incentives in Oligopoly," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(5), pages 927-940, December.
    6. Mandal, Biswajit & Marjit, Sugata, 2010. "Corruption and wage inequality?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 166-172, January.
    7. Beladi, Hamid & Chao, Chi-Chur, 2010. "Downsizing, wage inequality and welfare in a developing economy," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(4), pages 224-228, December.
    8. Chen, Ye & Li, Hongbin & Zhou, Li-An, 2005. "Relative performance evaluation and the turnover of provincial leaders in China," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 421-425, September.
    9. Daron Acemoglu, 1998. "Why Do New Technologies Complement Skills? Directed Technical Change and Wage Inequality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(4), pages 1055-1089.
    10. Vicente Cuñat & Maria Guadalupe, 2009. "Globalization and the Provision of Incentives inside the Firm: The Effect of Foreign Competition," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(2), pages 179-212, April.
    11. Steven D. Sklivas, 1987. "The Strategic Choice of Managerial Incentives," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 18(3), pages 452-458, Autumn.
    12. Pi, Jiancai & Zhang, Pengqing, 2018. "Skill-biased technological change and wage inequality in developing countries," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 347-362.
    13. Paolo Epifani & Gino Gancia, 2008. "The Skill Bias of World Trade," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(530), pages 927-960, July.
    14. Daron Acemoglu, 2002. "Technical Change, Inequality, and the Labor Market," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(1), pages 7-72, March.
    15. Bengt Holmstrom, 1982. "Moral Hazard in Teams," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 13(2), pages 324-340, Autumn.
    16. Hamid Beladi & Chi‐Chur Chao, 2006. "Mixed Ownership, Unemployment, and Welfare for a Developing Economy," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(4), pages 604-611, November.
    17. Sly, Nicholas, 2010. "Skill Acquisition, Incentive Contracts and Jobs: Labor Market Adjustment to Trade," MPRA Paper 25004, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. David H. Autor & Frank Levy & Richard J. Murnane, 2003. "The skill content of recent technological change: an empirical exploration," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue Nov.
    19. Holmstrom, Bengt & Milgrom, Paul, 1987. "Aggregation and Linearity in the Provision of Intertemporal Incentives," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(2), pages 303-328, March.
    20. Nirvikar Singh & Xavier Vives, 1984. "Price and Quantity Competition in a Differentiated Duopoly," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 15(4), pages 546-554, Winter.
    21. Pi, Jiancai & Zhang, Pengqing, 2021. "Redistribution and wage inequality," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 510-523.
    22. Bengt Holmstrom, 1979. "Moral Hazard and Observability," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 10(1), pages 74-91, Spring.
    23. Pi, Jiancai & Zhang, Pengqing, 2016. "Hukou system reforms and skilled-unskilled wage inequality in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 90-103.
    24. Antle, R & Smith, A, 1986. "An Empirical-Investigation Of The Relative Performance Evaluation Of Corporate-Executives," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(1), pages 1-39.
    25. Chi-Chur Chao & Eden S. H. Yu, 1997. "Trade Liberalization in Oligopolistic Competition with Unemployment: A General Equilibrium Analysis," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 30(2), pages 479-496, May.
    26. Fumas, Vicente Salas, 1992. "Relative performance evaluation of management : The effects on industrial competition and risk sharing," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 473-489, September.
    27. Hamid Beladi & Sarbajit Chaudhuri & Shigemi Yabuuchi, 2008. "Can International Factor Mobility Reduce Wage Inequality in a Dual Economy?," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(5), pages 893-903, November.
    28. Bogetoft, Peter, 1990. "A new rationale for pluralism : Relative performance evaluations and incentive costs," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 217-244, October.
    29. Luciano Fanti & Nicola Meccheri, 2012. "Labour Incentive Schemes, Effort, and Market Outcomes in a Differentiated Duopoly with Simple Institutional Constraints," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 168(2), pages 290-310, June.
    30. Rajesh K. Aggarwal & Andrew A. Samwick, 1999. "Executive Compensation, Strategic Competition, and Relative Performance Evaluation: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(6), pages 1999-2043, December.
    31. Jiancai Pi & Pengqing Zhang, 2018. "Horizontal Mergers and Wage Inequality," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 174(3), pages 495-513, September.
    32. Palley, Thomas I., 1995. "Safety in numbers: A model of managerial herd behavior," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 443-450, December.
    33. Pal, Rupayan, 2015. "Cournot vs. Bertrand under relative performance delegation: Implications of positive and negative network externalities," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 94-101.
    34. Jiancai Pi & Shuning Li, 2022. "Managerial Delegation and Wage Inequality," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 23(1), pages 141-157, May.
    35. Pi, Jiancai & Fan, Yanwei, 2021. "Institutional change and wage inequality," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 440-452.
    36. Christine Harbring & Bernd Irlenbusch, 2005. "Incentives in Tournaments with Endogenous Prize Selection," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 161(4), pages 636-663, December.
    37. Jumpei Hamamura, 2021. "What level do disadvantaged firms weight rivals' profits in relative performance evaluations under quantity competition?," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(2), pages 493-501, March.
    38. Satoshi Kawanishi, 2000. "Relative Performance Evaluations in a Model of Financial Intermediation," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 3(4), pages 801-830, October.
    39. Konishi, Hideki & Okuno-Fujiwara, Masahiro & Suzumura, Kotaro, 1990. "Oligopolistic competition and economic welfare : A general equilibrium analysis of entry regulation and tax-subsidy schemes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 67-88, June.
    40. Kou, Zonglai & Zhou, Min, 2015. "Hotelling’s competition with relative performance evaluation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 69-71.
    41. Arghya Ghosh & Manipushpak Mitra & Bibhas Saha, 2015. "Privatization, Underpricing, and Welfare in the Presence of Foreign Competition," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 17(3), pages 433-460, June.
    42. Barry J. Nalebuff & Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1983. "Prices and Incentives: Towards a General Theory of Compensation and Competition," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 14(1), pages 21-43, Spring.
    43. Jumpei Hamamura, 2022. "Weight assigned to a rival's profit by an advantaged firm in relative performance evaluation with Cournot–Bertrand competition," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(7), pages 2838-2844, October.
    44. Pi, Jiancai & Zhang, Pengqing, 2018. "Privatization and wage inequality in developing countries," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 594-603.
    45. Fershtman, Chaim, 1985. "Managerial incentives as a strategic variable in duopolistic environment," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 245-253, June.
    46. Vickers, John, 1985. "Delegation and the Theory of the Firm," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 95(380a), pages 138-147, Supplemen.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Jiancai Pi & Shuning Li, 2022. "Managerial Delegation and Wage Inequality," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 23(1), pages 141-157, May.
    2. Jumpei Hamamura & Vinay Ramani, 2024. "The welfare effect of release timing of relative performance evaluation under quantity competition and asymmetric costs," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 71(3), pages 416-438, July.
    3. Jumpei Hamamura, 2022. "Weight assigned to a rival's profit by an advantaged firm in relative performance evaluation with Cournot–Bertrand competition," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(7), pages 2838-2844, October.
    4. Fanti, Luciano & Gori, Luca & Sodini, Mauro, 2012. "Nonlinear dynamics in a Cournot duopoly with relative profit delegation," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 45(12), pages 1469-1478.
    5. Miguel Antón & Florian Ederer & Mireia Giné & Martin Schmalz, 2023. "Common Ownership, Competition, and Top Management Incentives," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 131(5), pages 1294-1355.
    6. Cellini, Roberto & Lambertini, Luca & Ottaviano, Gianmarco I.P., 2020. "Strategic inattention, delegation and endogenous market structure," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    7. Nicola Meccheri & Luciano Fanti, 2012. "Managerial Delegation Schemes in a Duopoly with Endogenous Production Costs: A Comparison of Sales and Relative Profit Delegation under Centralised Unionisation," Working Paper series 44_12, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    8. Bloomfield, Matthew J., 2021. "Compensation disclosures and strategic commitment: Evidence from revenue-based pay," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(2), pages 620-643.
    9. Spagnolo, Giancarlo & Bloomfield, Matthew & Marvao, Catarina, 2020. "Relative Performance Evaluation, Sabotage and Collusion," CEPR Discussion Papers 15115, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Jumpei Hamamura & Vinay Ramani, 2023. "Social performance versus relative performance evaluation, asymmetric costs, and quantity competition under managerial delegation," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(3), pages 1706-1719, April.
    11. Pi, Jiancai & Zhang, Pengqing, 2018. "Privatization and wage inequality in developing countries," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 594-603.
    12. Delbono, Flavio & Lambertini, Luca, 2020. "On the collusive nature of managerial contracts based on comparative performance," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 12-18.
    13. Rajesh K. Aggarwal & Andrew A. Samwick, 1999. "Executive Compensation, Strategic Competition, and Relative Performance Evaluation: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(6), pages 1999-2043, December.
    14. Liang, Wen-Jung & Tseng, Ching-Chih & Wang, Kuang-Cheng Andy, 2011. "Location choice with delegation: Bertrand vs. Cournot competition," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 1774-1781, July.
    15. Ya‐chin Wang & Leonard F.s. Wang, 2009. "Equivalence Of Competition Mode In A Vertically Differentiated Duopoly With Delegation," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 77(4), pages 577-590, December.
    16. Pi, Jiancai & Zhang, Pengqing, 2018. "Skill-biased technological change and wage inequality in developing countries," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 347-362.
    17. Bushman, Robert M. & Smith, Abbie J., 2001. "Financial accounting information and corporate governance," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-3), pages 237-333, December.
    18. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2373-2437 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Do, Truc & Zhang, Huai & Zuo, Luo, 2022. "Rocking the boat: How relative performance evaluation affects corporate risk taking," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1).
    20. Pi, Jiancai & Zhang, Pengqing, 2021. "Redistribution and wage inequality," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 510-523.
    21. Johnson, Shane A. & Tian, Yisong S., 2000. "Indexed executive stock options," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 35-64, July.

    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:manchs:v:92:y:2024:i:3:p:296-312. 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/semanuk.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.