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Are Transition Economy Workers Underpaid?

Author

Listed:
  • Vera A. Adamchik

    (University of Houston-Victoria)

  • Josef C. Brada

    (Arizona State University and Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts)

  • Arthur E. King

    (Lehigh University)

Abstract

We examine the extent to which workers in transition and developed market economies are able to obtain wages that fully reflect their skills and labor force characteristics. We find that workers in two transition economies, the Czech Republic and Poland, are able to better attain the maximum wage available than are workers in a sample of developed market economies. This greater wage-setting efficiency in the transition economies appears to be more the result of social and demographic characteristics of the labor force than of the mechanisms for setting wages or of labor market policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Vera A. Adamchik & Josef C. Brada & Arthur E. King, 2009. "Are Transition Economy Workers Underpaid?," Working Papers 278, Leibniz Institut für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung (Institute for East and Southeast European Studies).
    • Handle: RePEc:ost:wpaper:278
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    labor markets; wage inefficiency; job search; stochastic frontier; economic transition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • P23 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Factor and Product Markets; Industry Studies; Population

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