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Generalized Glass Ceilings in the United States – A Stochastic Metafrontier Approach

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  • Khalid Maman Waziri

    (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

This paper highlights the limitations inherent to the stochastic earnings frontier methodology to analyzing wage discrimination and introduces the use of the metafrontier approach as an important improvement. Using US data from the Current Population Survey, we find that white women's and black men's maximum attainable hourly earnings represent respectively 80% and 76% of those of white men on average. Furthermore, the metafrontier approach shows that male-female and white-black differences in maximum attainable earnings are observed at all levels of human capital. This innovative methodology permits the identification of a "generalized" glass ceilings against females and blacks in the US.

Suggested Citation

  • Khalid Maman Waziri, 2017. "Generalized Glass Ceilings in the United States – A Stochastic Metafrontier Approach," Working Papers halshs-01569834, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01569834
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01569834v2
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    Keywords

    sample selection correction; stochastic metafrontier approach; glass ceiling; stochastic frontier; wage differentials; discrimination;
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