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The Role of Family Ties in the Labour Market. An Interpretation Based on Efficiency Wage Theory

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  • De Paola, Maria
  • Scoppa, Vincenzo

Abstract

By casual empiricism, it seems that many firms take explicit account of the family ties connecting workers, often hiring individuals belonging to the same family or passing jobs on from parents to their children. This paper makes an attempt to explain this behaviour by introducing the assumption of altruism within the family and supposing that agents maximise a family utility function rather than an individual one. This hypothesis has been almost ignored in the analysis of the relationship between employers and employees. The implications of this assumption in the efficiency wage models are explored: by employing members of the same family, firms can use a (credible) harsher threat¬ – involving all the family’s members in case of one member’s shirking - that allows them to pay a lower efficiency wage. On the other hand, workers who accept this agreement exchange a reduction in wage with an increase in their probability of being employed: this can be optimal in situation of high unemployment. Moreover, the link between parents and children allows the firm to follow a strategy that solves the problem of an individual’s finite time horizon through family’s reputation.

Suggested Citation

  • De Paola, Maria & Scoppa, Vincenzo, 2005. "The Role of Family Ties in the Labour Market. An Interpretation Based on Efficiency Wage Theory," MPRA Paper 8956, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:8956
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    Cited by:

    1. Ponzo, Michela & Scoppa, Vincenzo, 2008. "The Use of Informal Networks in Italian Labor Markets: Efficiency or Favoritisms?," MPRA Paper 11764, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Ponzo, Michela & Scoppa, Vincenzo, 2010. "The use of informal networks in Italy: Efficiency or favoritism?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 89-99, January.
    3. De Paola, Maria & Scoppa, Vincenzo, 2003. "Family ties and training provision in an insider-outsider framework," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 197-217, May.
    4. Loukas Spanos & Lena Tsipouri & Manolis Xanthakis, 2005. "Corporate Governance Rating and Family Firms: The Greek Case," Finance 0503011, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Damiani, Mirella & Pompei, Fabrizio & Ricci, Andrea, 2014. "Enterprise-level bargaining and labour productivity of Italian family firms: a quantile regression analysis," MPRA Paper 60380, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Francesco Barbera & Ken Moores, 2013. "Firm ownership and productivity: a study of family and non-family SMEs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 953-976, May.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • M12 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Personnel Management; Executives; Executive Compensation

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