IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ifs/ifsewp/99-13.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Interpreting aggregate wage growth

Author

Listed:
  • Richard Blundell

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London)

  • Howard Reed

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies)

  • Thomas M. Stoker

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies and MIT)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the relationship between aggregate wages and individual wages when there is time series variation in employment and in the dispersion of wages. A new and easily implementable framework for the empirical analysis of aggregation biases is developed. Aggregate real wages are shown to contain three important bias terms: one associated with the dispersion of individual wages, a second reflecting the distribution of working hours, and a third deriving from compositional changes in the (selected) sample of workers. Noting the importance of these issues for recent experience in Britain, data on real wages and participation for British male workers over the period 1978-1996 are studied. A close correspondence between the estimated biases and the patterns of differences shown by aggregate wages is established. This is shown to have important implications for the interpretation of real wage growth over this period.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Blundell & Howard Reed & Thomas M. Stoker, 1999. "Interpreting aggregate wage growth," IFS Working Papers W99/13, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
  • Handle: RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:99/13
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ifs.org.uk/wps/wp9913.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robinson, Peter M, 1988. "Root- N-Consistent Semiparametric Regression," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(4), pages 931-954, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mirko Draca & Stephen Machin, 2015. "Crime and Economic Incentives," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 7(1), pages 389-408, August.
    2. Peter Haan & Viktor Steiner, 2008. "Making Work Pay for the Elderly Unemployed - Evaluating Alternative Policy Reforms for Germany," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 64(3), pages 380-402, September.
    3. Guggenberger, Patrik & Smith, Richard J., 2008. "Generalized empirical likelihood tests in time series models with potential identification failure," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(1), pages 134-161, January.
    4. Michal Myck & Leszek Morawski & Jerzy Mycielski, 2006. "Employment Fluctuations and Dynamics of the Aggregate Average Wage in Poland 1996 - 2003," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 545, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    5. P. Jenkins, Stephen, 2009. "Spaghetti unravelled: a model-based description of differences in income-age trajectories," ISER Working Paper Series 2009-30, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    6. Anabela Carneiro & Pedro Portugal, 2004. "Workers' Flows and Real Wage Cyclicality," CEF.UP Working Papers 0402, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    7. Pedro Carneiro & Sokbae (Simon) Lee, 2005. "Ability, sorting and wage inequality," CeMMAP working papers CWP16/05, Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    8. Heckman, James J. & Lochner, Lance J. & Todd, Petra E., 2006. "Earnings Functions, Rates of Return and Treatment Effects: The Mincer Equation and Beyond," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & F. Welch (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 7, pages 307-458, Elsevier.
    9. Richard Blundell & Amanda Gosling & Hidehiko Ichimura & Costas Meghir, 2007. "Changes in the Distribution of Male and Female Wages Accounting for Employment Composition Using Bounds," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 75(2), pages 323-363, March.
    10. Michal Myck & Gillian Paull, 2001. "The role of employment experience in explaining the gender wage gap," IFS Working Papers W01/18, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    11. Heckman, James J. & Masterov, Dimitriy V., 2004. "Skill Policies for Scotland," IZA Discussion Papers 1444, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    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. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/7182 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Ai, Chunrong & Chen, Xiaohong, 2007. "Estimation of possibly misspecified semiparametric conditional moment restriction models with different conditioning variables," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 141(1), pages 5-43, November.
    3. Jinhyun Lee, 2013. "A Consistent Nonparametric Bootstrap Test of Exogeneity," Discussion Paper Series, School of Economics and Finance 201316, School of Economics and Finance, University of St Andrews.
    4. Roberto Martino & Phu Nguyen-Van, 2014. "Labour market regulation and fiscal parameters: A structural model for European regions," Working Papers of BETA 2014-19, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    5. De Loecker, Jan & Konings, Jozef, 2003. "Creative Destruction and Productivity Growth in an Emerging Economy: Evidence from Slovenian Manufacturing," IZA Discussion Papers 971, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Eugene Choo & Shannon Seitz & Aloysius Siow, 2008. "The Collective Marriage Matching Model: Identification, Estimation and Testing," Working Papers tecipa-340, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    7. Goldstein, Itay & Jiang, Hao & Ng, David T., 2017. "Investor flows and fragility in corporate bond funds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(3), pages 592-613.
    8. Kirill Borusyak & Peter Hull & Xavier Jaravel, 2023. "Design-Based Identification with Formula Instruments: A Review," NBER Working Papers 31393, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Chen, Qi & Goldstein, Itay & Jiang, Wei, 2010. "Payoff complementarities and financial fragility: Evidence from mutual fund outflows," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 239-262, August.
    10. Vidal-Sanz, Jose M., 1999. "On universal unbiasedness of delta estimators," DES - Working Papers. Statistics and Econometrics. WS 6322, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Estadística.
    11. Polemis, Michael & Tselekounis, Markos, 2019. "Does deregulation drive innovation intensity? Lessons learned from the OECD telecommunications sector," MPRA Paper 92770, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Patrick Saart & Jiti Gao & Nam Hyun Kim, 2014. "Semiparametric methods in nonlinear time series analysis: a selective review," Journal of Nonparametric Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(1), pages 141-169, March.
    13. Flückiger, Matthias & Ludwig, Markus, 2015. "Economic shocks in the fisheries sector and maritime piracy," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 107-125.
    14. Wongsa-art, Pipat & Kim, Namhyun & Xia, Yingcun & Moscone, Francesco, 2024. "Varying coefficient panel data models and methods under correlated error components: Application to disparities in mental health services in England," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    15. Alena Bicakova & Stepan Jurajda, 2014. "The Quiet Revolution and the Family: Gender Composition of Tertiary Education and Early Fertility Patterns," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp504, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    16. Marco Helbich & Wolfgang Brunauer & Eric Vaz & Peter Nijkamp, 2014. "Spatial Heterogeneity in Hedonic House Price Models: The Case of Austria," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(2), pages 390-411, February.
    17. Temel, Tugrul T., 2001. "A Nonparametric Hypothesis Test Via The Bootstrap Resampling," 2001 Annual meeting, August 5-8, Chicago, IL 20600, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    18. Zhang, Xiaobei & Wang, Xiaojun, 2021. "Measures of human capital and the mechanics of economic growth," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    19. Juan Carlos Escanciano & Telmo P'erez-Izquierdo, 2023. "Automatic Locally Robust Estimation with Generated Regressors," Papers 2301.10643, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2023.
    20. Christopher F. Parmeter & Hung-Jen Wang & Subal C. Kumbhakar, 2017. "Nonparametric estimation of the determinants of inefficiency," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 205-221, June.
    21. Chen, Xiaohong & Pouzo, Demian, 2009. "Efficient estimation of semiparametric conditional moment models with possibly nonsmooth residuals," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 152(1), pages 46-60, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Aggregate Real Earnings; Participation; Wage Distribution;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C34 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Truncated and Censored Models; Switching Regression Models
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate 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:ifs:ifsewp:99/13. 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: Emma Hyman (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ifsssuk.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.