IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/adv/wpaper/201604.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

An Analysis of Firm Characteristics as Earnings Determinants: The Urban Bolivia Case

Author

Listed:
  • Beatriz Muriel Hernández

    (Institute for Advanced Development Studies, La Paz, Bolivia)

Abstract

This article analyzes the importance of firm characteristics to explain earnings in urban Bolivia. Initially I propose a new simple theoretical model of segmented labor market where, in equilibrium, individual and firm variables jointly determine earnings at the worker level. The key for achieving this equilibrium is that workers have both specific preferences and heterogonous skills provided by years of schooling, which are in turn associated to certain firms. Given the household surveys information, I estimate two alternative earnings functions from this model, one for unsalaried workers, for which there is detailed firm data and one for salaried workers, in which sector, size and formality are used as firm proxies. I find not only that firm characteristics are fundamental determinants of earnings but that regressions that include only individual characteristics present highly overestimated coefficients.

Suggested Citation

  • Beatriz Muriel Hernández, 2016. "An Analysis of Firm Characteristics as Earnings Determinants: The Urban Bolivia Case," Development Research Working Paper Series 04/2016, Institute for Advanced Development Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:adv:wpaper:201604
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.inesad.edu.bo/pdf/wp2016/wp04_2016.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Trefler, Daniel, 1993. "International Factor Price Differences: Leontief Was Right!," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(6), pages 961-987, December.
    2. Beatriz Muriel & Luis Carlos Jemio, 2010. "Mercado laboral y reformas en Bolivia," Capítulos de Libros PUCP / Chapters of PUCP books, in: José Rodríguez & Albert Berry (ed.), Desafíos laborales en América Latina después de dos décadas de reformas estructurales. Bolivia, Paraguay y Perú 1997-2008, edition 1, chapter 5, pages 273-356, Fondo Editorial - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.
    3. Frank Cowell & Carlo Fiorio, 2011. "Inequality decompositions—a reconciliation," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 9(4), pages 509-528, December.
    4. Woodcock, Simon D., 2008. "Wage differentials in the presence of unobserved worker, firm, and match heterogeneity," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 771-793, August.
    5. Verner, Dorte, 1999. "Are wages and productivity in Zimbabwe affected by human capital investment and international trade?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2101, The World Bank.
    6. Benoit Dostie, 2011. "Wages, Productivity and Aging," De Economist, Springer, vol. 159(2), pages 139-158, June.
    7. Hamermesh, Daniel, 2008. "Fun with matched firm-employee data: Progress and road maps," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 662-672, August.
    8. Naércio Aquino Menezes-Filho & Marc-Andreas Muendler & Garey Ramey, 2008. "The Structure of Worker Compensation in Brazil, with a Comparison to France and the United States," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(2), pages 324-346, May.
    9. Binswanger, Hans P, 1974. "The Measurement of Technical Change Biases with Many Factors of Production," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 64(6), pages 964-976, December.
    10. James J. Heckman & Lance J. Lochner & Petra E. Todd, 2003. "Fifty Years of Mincer Earnings Regressions," NBER Working Papers 9732, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Clive Belfield & Xiangdong Wei, 2004. "Employer size-wage effects: evidence from matched employer-employee survey data in the UK," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(3), pages 185-193.
    12. Card, David & de la Rica, Sara, 2004. "The Effect of Firm-Level Contracts on the Structure of Wages: Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee Data," IZA Discussion Papers 1421, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Sébastien Breau & David L. Rigby, 2006. "Is There Really an Export Wage Premium? A Case Study of Los Angeles Using Matched Employee-Employer Data," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 29(3), pages 297-310, July.
    14. Judith K. Hellerstein & David Neumark, 2007. "Production Function and Wage Equation Estimation with Heterogeneous Labor: Evidence from a New Matched Employer-Employee Data Set," NBER Chapters, in: Hard-to-Measure Goods and Services: Essays in Honor of Zvi Griliches, pages 31-71, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Spatz, Julius & Steiner, Susan, 2002. "Post-Reform Trends in Wage Inequality: The Case of Urban Bolivia," Documentos de trabajo 9/2002, Instituto de Investigaciones Socio-Económicas (IISEC), Universidad Católica Boliviana.
    16. Van Biesebroeck, Johannes, 2011. "Wages Equal Productivity. Fact or Fiction? Evidence from Sub Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 1333-1346, August.
    17. Marianthi Leontaridi, 1998. "Segmented Labour Markets: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(1), pages 103-109, February.
    18. Thierry Lallemand & Robert Plasman & François Rycx, 2005. "Why do large firms pay higher wages? Evidence from matched worker‐firm data," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 26(7/8), pages 705-723, October.
    19. Soderbom, Mans & Teal, Francis & Wambugu, Anthony, 2005. "Unobserved heterogeneity and the relation between earnings and firm size: evidence from two developing countries," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 153-159, May.
    20. Mercado, Alejandro F. & Aguilar, Tirza J., 2006. "Market and Inequality Revisited," Revista Latinoamericana de Desarrollo Economico, Carrera de Economía de la Universidad Católica Boliviana (UCB) "San Pablo", issue 6, pages 147-174, Abril.
    21. Haltiwanger, John C. & Lane, Julia I. & Spletzer, James R., 2007. "Wages, productivity, and the dynamic interaction of businesses and workers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 575-602, June.
    22. Oi, Walter Y. & Idson, Todd L., 1999. "Firm size and wages," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 33, pages 2165-2214, Elsevier.
    23. Andersen, Lykke Eg, 1999. "Wage Differentials Between Bolivian Cities," Documentos de trabajo 2/1999, Instituto de Investigaciones Socio-Económicas (IISEC), Universidad Católica Boliviana.
    24. Jonathan Morduch & Terry Sicular, 2002. "Rethinking Inequality Decomposition, With Evidence from Rural China," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(476), pages 93-106, January.
    25. Brown, Charles & Medoff, James, 1989. "The Employer Size-Wage Effect," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(5), pages 1027-1059, October.
    26. Card, David, 2001. "Estimating the Return to Schooling: Progress on Some Persistent Econometric Problems," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(5), pages 1127-1160, September.
    27. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling and Earnings," NBER Chapters, in: Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, pages 41-63, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    28. John M. Abowd & Francis Kramarz & David N. Margolis, 1999. "High Wage Workers and High Wage Firms," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 67(2), pages 251-334, March.
    29. Hellerstein, Judith K & Neumark, David & Troske, Kenneth R, 1999. "Wages, Productivity, and Worker Characteristics: Evidence from Plant-Level Production Functions and Wage Equations," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(3), pages 409-446, July.
    30. Martins, Pedro S., 2008. "Dispersion in wage premiums and firm performance," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 101(1), pages 63-65, October.
    31. Alexander Muravyev, 2009. "Employer Size, Wages And Unobserved Skills: Evidence From Moonlighters In The Uk," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 77(6), pages 651-674, December.
    32. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number minc74-1.
    33. Enrico Moretti, 2004. "Workers' Education, Spillovers, and Productivity: Evidence from Plant-Level Production Functions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 656-690, June.
    34. Kenneth R. Troske, 1998. "The Worker-Establishment Characteristics Database," NBER Chapters, in: Labor Statistics Measurement Issues, pages 371-404, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    35. John M. Abowd & Francis Kramarz, 1998. "Internal and External Labor Markets: An Analysis of Matched Longitudinal Employer-Employee Data," NBER Chapters, in: Labor Statistics Measurement Issues, pages 357-370, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    36. Abowd, John M. & Kramarz, Francis, 1999. "The analysis of labor markets using matched employer-employee data," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 40, pages 2629-2710, Elsevier.
    37. Berndt, Ernst R. & Christensen, Laurits R., 1973. "The translog function and the substitution of equipment, structures, and labor in U.S. manufacturing 1929-68," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 81-113, March.
    38. Abdurrahman Aydemir & Mikal Skuterud, 2008. "The Immigrant Wage Differential within and across Establishments," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 61(3), pages 334-352, April.
    39. Lykke E. Andersen & José Acuña & Luis Carlos Jemio & Fabián E. Soria & Natalia Zegarra, 2016. "E - Educación," INESAD book chapters, in: Lykke E. Andersen & Boris Branisa & Stefano Canelas (ed.), El ABC del desarrollo en Bolivia, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 63-71, Institute for Advanced Development Studies.
    40. Eric D. Gould, 2002. "Rising Wage Inequality, Comparative Advantage, and the Growing Importance of General Skills in the United States," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(1), pages 105-147, January.
    41. William T. Dickens & Kevin Lang, 1992. "Labor Market Segmentation Theory: Reconsidering the Evidence," NBER Working Papers 4087, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    42. Heckman, James J & Sedlacek, Guilherme L, 1990. "Self-selection and the Distribution of Hourly Wages," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(1), pages 329-363, January.
    43. Frank A Cowell & Carlo V. Fiorio, 2006. "Rethinking Inequality Decomposition:Comment," STICERD - Distributional Analysis Research Programme Papers 82, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    44. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Introduction to "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings"," NBER Chapters, in: Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, pages 1-4, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    45. Cain, Glen G, 1976. "The Challenge of Segmented Labor Market Theories to Orthodox Theory: A Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 1215-1257, December.
    46. CHEN, Guifu & HAMORI, Shigeyuki, 2009. "Economic returns to schooling in urban China: OLS and the instrumental variables approach," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 143-152, June.
    47. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    48. Jones, Patricia, 2001. "Are educated workers really more productive?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 57-79, February.
    49. Pekka Ilmakunnas & Mika Maliranta, 2005. "Technology, Labour Characteristics and Wage‐productivity Gaps," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 67(5), pages 623-645, October.
    50. Yasar, Mahmut & Morrison Paul, Catherine J., 2008. "Capital-skill complementarity, productivity and wages: Evidence from plant-level data for a developing country," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, February.
    51. Arabsheibani, Reza & Mussurov, Altay, 2006. "Returns to Schooling in Kazakhstan: OLS and Instrumental Variables Approach," IZA Discussion Papers 2462, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    52. repec:bla:jecsur:v:12:y:1998:i:1:p:63-101 is not listed on IDEAS
    53. Card, David, 1999. "The causal effect of education on earnings," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 30, pages 1801-1863, Elsevier.
    54. Heckman, James J & Sedlacek, Guilherme, 1985. "Heterogeneity, Aggregation, and Market Wage Functions: An Empirical Model of Self-selection in the Labor Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(6), pages 1077-1125, December.
    55. S�bastien Breau & David L. Rigby, 2006. "Is There Really an Export Wage Premium? A Case Study of Los Angeles Using Matched Employee-Employer Data," Working Papers 06-06, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    56. Mayssun El-Attar & Enrique Lopez-Bazo, 2008. "Firm size and the entire distribution of wages: a semiparametric approach," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(6), pages 427-430.
    57. Osnat Israeli, 2007. "A Shapley-based decomposition of the R-Square of a linear regression," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 5(2), pages 199-212, August.
    58. Kenneth R. Troske & Kimberly Bayard, 1999. "Examining the Employer-Size Wage Premium in the Manufacturing, Retail Trade, and Service Industries Using Employer-Employee Matched Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 99-103, May.
    59. Keane, Michael P & Wolpin, Kenneth I, 1997. "The Career Decisions of Young Men," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(3), pages 473-522, June.
    60. Mercado, Alejandro F. & Andersen, Lykke E. & Muriel H., Beatriz, 2003. "Discriminación étnica en el sistema educativo y el mercado de trabajo de Bolivia," Revista Latinoamericana de Desarrollo Economico, Carrera de Economía de la Universidad Católica Boliviana (UCB) "San Pablo", issue 1, pages 63-98, Septiembr.
    61. O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), 1999. "Handbook of Labor Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 3, number 3.
    62. Shorrocks, A F, 1982. "Inequality Decomposition by Factor Components," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(1), pages 193-211, January.
    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. Beatriz Muriel, 2011. "Rethinking Earnings Determinants in the Urban Areas of Bolivia," Development Research Working Paper Series 06/2011, Institute for Advanced Development Studies.
    2. Sébastien Breau & David L. Rigby, 2010. "International trade and wage inequality in Canada," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 10(1), pages 55-86, January.
    3. Peydró, José-Luis & Jasova, Martina & Mendicino, Caterina & Panetti, Ettore & Supera, Dominik, 2021. "Monetary Policy, Labor Income Redistribution and the Credit Channel: Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee and Credit Registe," CEPR Discussion Papers 16549, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Jozef Konings & Stijn Vanormelingen, 2015. "The Impact of Training on Productivity and Wages: Firm-Level Evidence," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(2), pages 485-497, May.
    5. Belzil, Christian, 2007. "The return to schooling in structural dynamic models: a survey," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(5), pages 1059-1105, July.
    6. François Rycx & Yves Saks & Ilan Tojerow, 2015. "Does Education Raise Productivity and Wages Equally ?The Moderating Roles of Age, Gender and Industry," DULBEA Working Papers 15-02, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    7. Van Biesebroeck, Johannes, 2011. "Wages Equal Productivity. Fact or Fiction? Evidence from Sub Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 1333-1346, August.
    8. Ralph Stinebrickner & Todd Stinebrickner & Paul Sullivan, 2019. "Job Tasks, Time Allocation, and Wages," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(2), pages 399-433.
    9. Antoni, Manfred & Janser, Markus & Lehmer, Florian, 2015. "The hidden winners of renewable energy promotion: Insights into sector-specific wage differentials," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 595-613.
    10. Iversen, Jens & Malchow-Møller, Nikolaj & Sørensen, Anders, 2009. "Entrepreneurial human capital," Discussion Papers on Economics 4/2009, University of Southern Denmark, Department of Economics.
    11. Miguel Ricaurte, 2009. "Interindustry Wage Differences: An Empirical Review," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 525, Central Bank of Chile.
    12. Hans Dietrich & Harald Pfeifer & Felix Wenzelmann, 2016. "The more they spend, the more I earn? Firms' training investments and post-training wages of apprentices," Economics of Education Working Paper Series 0116, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).
    13. Deniz Ozabaci & Daniel Henderson, 2015. "Additive kernel estimates of returns to schooling," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 227-251, February.
    14. Muhammad Nauman Malik & Masood Sarwar Awan, 2016. "Analysing Econometric Bias and Non-linearity in Returns to Education of Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 55(4), pages 837-851.
    15. T. Paul Schultz, 2004. "Evidence of Returns to Schooling in Africa from Household Surveys: Monitoring and Restructuring the Market for Education," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 13(02), pages 95-148, December.
    16. Thierry Lallemand & François Rycx, 2009. "Are young and old workers harmful for firm productivity?," DULBEA Working Papers 09-02.RS, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    17. Serneels, Pieter & Beegle, Kathleen & Dillon, Andrew, 2017. "Do returns to education depend on how and whom you ask?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 5-19.
    18. Thierry Lallemand & Robert Plasman & François Rycx, 2007. "The establishment-size wage premium: evidence from European countries," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 34(5), pages 427-451, December.
    19. Jesus Crespo Cuaresma & Anna Raggl, 2016. "The dynamics of returns to education in Uganda: National and subnational trends," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 34(3), pages 385-422, May.
    20. Glewwe, Paul & Huang, Qiuqiong & Park, Albert, 2017. "Cognitive skills, noncognitive skills, and school-to-work transitions in rural China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 141-164.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Earnings functions; labor market segmentation; firm characteristics; Bolivia.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C26 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Instrumental Variables (IV) Estimation
    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:adv:wpaper:201604. 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: Lykke Andersen (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inesabo.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.