IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/10174.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Wages Equal Productivity: Fact or Fiction?

Author

Listed:
  • Johannes Van Biesebroeck

Abstract

Using a matched employer-employee data set of manufacturing plants in three sub-Saharan countries, I compare the marginal productivity of different categories of workers with the wages they earn. Under certain conditions, the wage premiums for worker characteristics should equal the productivity benefits associated with them. I find that equality holds strongly for the most developed country in the sample (Zimbabwe), but not at all for the least developed country (Tanzania). Differences between wage and productivity premiums are most pronounced for characteristics that are clearly related to human capital, such as schooling, training, experience, and tenure. Localized labor markets, imperfect substitutability of different worker-types, sampling errors, and nonlinear effects are rejected as explanation for the gap between wage and productivity effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Johannes Van Biesebroeck, 2003. "Wages Equal Productivity: Fact or Fiction?," NBER Working Papers 10174, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:10174
    Note: LS PR
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w10174.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stefan Bender & Julia Lane & Kathryn Shaw & Fredrik Andersson & Till von Wachter, 2008. "The Analysis of Firms and Employees: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number bend08-1.
    2. Van Biesebroeck, Johannes, 2005. "Firm Size Matters: Growth and Productivity Growth in African Manufacturing," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(3), pages 545-583, April.
    3. Hellerstein, Judith K & Neumark, David, 1999. "Sex, Wages, and Productivity: An Empirical Analysis of Israeli Firm-Level Data," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 40(1), pages 95-123, February.
    4. Eslava, Marcela & Haltiwanger, John & Kugler, Adriana & Kugler, Maurice, 2004. "The effects of structural reforms on productivity and profitability enhancing reallocation: evidence from Colombia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 333-371, December.
    5. Nina Pavcnik, 2002. "Trade Liberalization, Exit, and Productivity Improvements: Evidence from Chilean Plants," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 69(1), pages 245-276.
    6. Reardon, Thomas, 1997. "Using evidence of household income diversification to inform study of the rural nonfarm labor market in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 735-747, May.
    7. 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.
    8. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number minc74-1.
    9. Van Biesebroeck, Johannes, 2005. "Exporting raises productivity in sub-Saharan African manufacturing firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 373-391, December.
    10. Eslava, Marcela & Haltiwanger, John & Kugler, Adriana & Kugler, Maurice, 2004. "The effects of structural reforms on productivity and profitabality enhancing reallocation: evidence from Colombia," Discussion Paper Series In Economics And Econometrics 0408, Economics Division, School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton.
    11. Bigsten, Arne & Isaksson, Anders & Söderbom, Måns & Collier, Paul & Zeufack, Albert & Dercon, Stefan & Fafchamps, Marcel & Gunning, Jan Willem & Teal, Francis & Appleton, Simon & Gauthier, Bernard & O, 2000. "Rates of Return on Physical and Human Capital in Africa's Manufacturing Sector," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 48(4), pages 801-827, July.
    12. M. J. Andrews & L. Gill & T. Schank & R. Upward, 2008. "High wage workers and low wage firms: negative assortative matching or limited mobility bias?," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 171(3), pages 673-697, June.
    13. Gibbons, Robert & Waldman, Michael, 1999. "Careers in organizations: Theory and evidence," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 36, pages 2373-2437, Elsevier.
    14. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling and Earnings," NBER Chapters, in: Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, pages 41-63, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Topel, Robert H, 1991. "Specific Capital, Mobility, and Wages: Wages Rise with Job Seniority," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(1), pages 145-176, February.
    16. D. W. Jorgenson & Z. Griliches, 1967. "The Explanation of Productivity Change," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 34(3), pages 249-283.
    17. Ernst R. Berndt & Charles R. Hulten, 2007. "Introduction to "Hard-to-Measure Goods and Services: Essays in Honor of Zvi Griliches"," NBER Chapters, in: Hard-to-Measure Goods and Services: Essays in Honor of Zvi Griliches, pages 1-14, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. 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.
    19. T. Paul Schultz, 1999. "Health and Schooling Investments in Africa," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 13(3), pages 67-88, Summer.
    20. Fox, Jeremy T. & Smeets, Valérie, 2007. "Do Input Quality and Structural Productivity Estimates Drive Measured Differences in Firm Productivity?," Working Papers 07-2, University of Aarhus, Aarhus School of Business, Department of Economics.
    21. Jong-Il Kim & Lawrence J. Lau, 1996. "The sources of Asian Pacific economic growth," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 29(s1), pages 448-454, April.
    22. Lorraine Dearden & Howard Reed & John Van Reenen, 2006. "The Impact of Training on Productivity and Wages: Evidence from British Panel Data," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 68(4), pages 397-421, August.
    23. Chang-Tai Hsieh & Peter J. Klenow, 2009. "Misallocation and Manufacturing TFP in China and India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(4), pages 1403-1448.
    24. Schultz, T. Paul, 1988. "Education investments and returns," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Hollis Chenery & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 13, pages 543-630, Elsevier.
    25. Velenchik, Ann D., 1997. "Market power, firm performance and real wage growth in Zimbabwean manufacturing," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 749-762, May.
    26. Erica L. Groshen, 1991. "The Structure of the Female/Male Wage Differential: Is It Who You Are, What You Do, or Where You Work?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 26(3), pages 457-472.
    27. Torbjorn Hacgeland & Tor Jakob Klette, 1999. "Do Higher Wages Reflect Higher Productivity? Education, Gender and Experience Premiums in a Matched Plant-Worker Data Set," Contributions to Economic Analysis, in: The Creation and Analysis of Employer-Employee Matched Data, pages 231-259, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    28. Naércio Aquino Menezes Filho & Marc-Andreas Muendler, 2007. "Labor Reallocation in Response to Trade Reform," CESifo Working Paper Series 1936, CESifo.
    29. 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.
    30. Jones, Patricia, 2001. "Are educated workers really more productive?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 57-79, February.
    31. Brown, James N, 1989. "Why Do Wages Increase with Tenure? On-the-Job Training and Life-Cycle Wage Growth Observed within Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(5), pages 971-991, December.
    32. Ernst R. Berndt & Charles R. Hulten, 2007. "Hard-to-Measure Goods and Services: Essays in Honor of Zvi Griliches," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number bern07-1.
    33. Joseph G. Altonji & Nicolas Williams, 2005. "Do Wages Rise with Job Seniority? A Reassessment," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 58(3), pages 370-397, April.
    34. 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.
    35. 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.
    36. Knight, J B & Sabot, R H, 1987. "Educational Policy and Labour Productivity: An Output Accounting Exercise," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 97(385), pages 199-214, March.
    37. Benjamin, Dwayne, 1995. "Can unobserved land quality explain the inverse productivity relationship?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 51-84, February.
    38. Johannes Van Biesebroeck, 2008. "Wage and Productivity Premiums in Sub-Saharan Africa," NBER Chapters, in: The Analysis of Firms and Employees: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches, pages 345-371, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    39. Bruno Crépon & Nicolas Deniau & Sébastien Perez-Duarte, 2003. "Productivité et salaire des travailleurs âgés," Revue Française d'Économie, Programme National Persée, vol. 18(1), pages 157-185.
    40. World Bank, 2000. "World Development Indicators 2000," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13828.
    41. Mortensen, Dale T. & Pissarides, Christopher A., 1999. "New developments in models of search in the labor market," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 39, pages 2567-2627, Elsevier.
    42. Simon Appleton & John Hoddinott & John MacKinnon, 1996. "Education and health in sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 8(3), pages 307-339.
    43. Fafchamps, Marcel, 1997. "Introduction: Markets in sub-saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 733-734, May.
    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. Bartelsman, Eric & Dobbelaere, Sabien & Peters, Bettina, 2013. "Allocation of Human Capital and Innovation at the Frontier: Firm-Level Evidence on Germany and the Netherlands," IZA Discussion Papers 7540, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. V. Vandenberghe, 2018. "The Contribution of Educated Workers to Firms’ Efficiency Gains: The Key Role of Proximity to the ‘Local’ Frontier," De Economist, Springer, vol. 166(3), pages 259-283, September.
    3. 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.
    4. Alpysbayeva, Dinara & Vanormelingen, Stijn, 2022. "Labor market rigidities and misallocation: Evidence from a natural experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    5. Jozef Konings & Luca Marcolin, 2014. "Do wages reflect labor productivity? The case of Belgian regions," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-21, December.
    6. Taymaz, Erol & Voyvoda, Ebru & Yilmaz, Kamil, 2024. "Is there a virtuous cycle between wages and productivity? Turkish experience after the transition to democracy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    7. Lovász, Anna & Rigó, Mariann, 2013. "Vintage effects, aging and productivity," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 47-60.
    8. Karmen Naidoo & Léonce Ndikumana, 2023. "The role of unit labor costs in African manufacturing investment and export performance," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 1874-1909, August.
    9. Johannes Van Biesebroeck, 2008. "Wage and Productivity Premiums in Sub-Saharan Africa," NBER Chapters, in: The Analysis of Firms and Employees: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches, pages 345-371, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Angel-Urdinola, Diego F. & Haimovich, Francisco & Robayo, Monica, 2009. "Is Social Assistance Contributing to Higher Informality in Turkey?," MPRA Paper 27675, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Stephan Kampelmann & François Rycx & Yves Saks & Ilan Tojerow, 2018. "Does education raise productivity and wages equally? The moderating role of age and gender," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-37, December.
    12. Shaw, Kathryn & Lazear, Edward P., 2008. "Tenure and output," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 704-723, August.
    13. Farok J. Contractor & Susan M. Mudambi, 2008. "The influence of human capital investment on the exports of services and goods: An analysis of the top 25 services outsourcing countries," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 433-445, April.
    14. 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.
    15. Vincent Vandenberghe, 2017. "The Contribution of Educated Workers to Firms' Efficiency Gains The Key Role of the Proximity to Frontier," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2017012, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    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. Luis A. Gil-Alana & Marinko Skare, 2018. "Testing the great decoupling: a long memory approach," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 45(4), pages 801-820, November.
    18. Alexandre Gori Maia & Arthur Sakamoto, 2018. "Does wage reflect labor productivity? A comparison between Brazil and the United States," Brazilian Journal of Political Economy, Center of Political Economy, vol. 38(4), pages 629-649..
    19. Marinko Škare & Damian Škare, 2017. "Is the great decoupling real?," Journal of Business Economics and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(3), pages 451-467, May.
    20. SJ, Balaji & Pal, Suresh, 2021. "Agricultural Productivity, Pay-Gap, and Non-Farm Development: Contribution to Structural Transformation in India," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315213, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    21. Figal Garone, Lucas & López Villalba, Paula A. & Maffioli, Alessandro & Ruzzier, Christian A., 2020. "Firm-level productivity in Latin America and the Caribbean," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 186-192.
    22. Navon, Guy, 2009. "Human Capital Spillovers in the Workplace: Labor Diversity and Productivity," MPRA Paper 17741, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    23. repec:lic:licosd:24409 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. Melaku Abegaz & Gibson Nene, 2018. "Gender Wage and Productivity Gaps in the Manufacturing Industry. The Case of Ghana," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 37(3), pages 313-326, September.

    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. Johannes Van Biesebroeck, 2008. "Wage and Productivity Premiums in Sub-Saharan Africa," NBER Chapters, in: The Analysis of Firms and Employees: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches, pages 345-371, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Bernhard Mahlberg & Inga Freund & Alexia Prskawetz, 2013. "Ageing, productivity and wages in Austria: sector level evidence," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 40(4), pages 561-584, November.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Pieter Serneels, 2005. "Do Wages reflect Productivity?," Economics Series Working Papers GPRG-WPS-029, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    6. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2373-2437 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. François Rycx & Yves Saks & Ilan Tojerow, 2015. "Does Education Raise Productivity and Wages Equally? The Moderating Roles of Age, Gender and Industry," Working Paper Research 281, National Bank of Belgium.
    8. Dohmen, Thomas J., 2004. "Performance, seniority, and wages: formal salary systems and individual earnings profiles," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(6), pages 741-763, December.
    9. Kodama, Naomi & Odaki, Kazuhiko, 2013. "Measuring the Gap between Wage and Productivity: Wage-Tenure Profile and Productivity-Tenure Profile Cross Twice," CIS Discussion paper series 612, Center for Intergenerational Studies, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    10. repec:lic:licosd:24409 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Erling Barth & James Davis & Richard B. Freeman, 2018. "Augmenting the Human Capital Earnings Equation with Measures of Where People Work," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(S1), pages 71-97.
    12. David Card & Ana Rute Cardoso & Joerg Heining & Patrick Kline, 2018. "Firms and Labor Market Inequality: Evidence and Some Theory," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(S1), pages 13-70.
    13. Benoit Dostie, 2011. "Wages, Productivity and Aging," De Economist, Springer, vol. 159(2), pages 139-158, June.
    14. Parent, Daniel, 2002. "Matching, human capital, and the covariance structure of earnings," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 375-404, July.
    15. David Neumark, 2018. "Experimental Research on Labor Market Discrimination," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(3), pages 799-866, September.
    16. Arellano-Bover, Jaime & Saltiel, Fernando, 2021. "Differences in On-the-Job Learning across Firms," IZA Discussion Papers 14473, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Morchio, Iacopo & Moser, Christian, 2018. "The Gender Pay Gap: Micro Sources and Macro Consequences," MPRA Paper 99276, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 24 Mar 2020.
    18. Paul Hek & Daniel Vuuren, 2011. "Are older workers overpaid? A literature review," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 18(4), pages 436-460, August.
    19. Chad Syverson, 2011. "What Determines Productivity?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(2), pages 326-365, June.
    20. 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.
    21. Carlos Carrillo-Tudela, 2010. "Job Search, Human Capital and Wage Inequality," 2010 Meeting Papers 723, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    22. Erling Barth & Alex Bryson & James C. Davis & Richard Freeman, 2016. "It's Where You Work: Increases in the Dispersion of Earnings across Establishments and Individuals in the United States," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(S2), pages 67-97.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts

    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:nbr:nberwo:10174. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.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.