IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unu/wpaper/wp-2024-52.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Economic geography determinants of spatial wage disparities in South Africa: Evidence from a firm‐level panel

Author

Listed:
  • Sanduku Mulumba
  • Lawrence Edwards
  • David Fadiran

Abstract

In this paper, we use the new economic geography (NEG) framework to estimate the extent to which spatial wage disparities in the South African manufacturing sector are an outcome of economic forces such as market access. To test the relationship, we use the anonymized tax data on employers and employees made available by the South African Revenue Service and National Treasury in collaboration with UNU-WIDER. We first document the key stylized facts that characterize the spatial distribution of wages across regions in South Africa using exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) techniques.

Suggested Citation

  • Sanduku Mulumba & Lawrence Edwards & David Fadiran, 2024. "Economic geography determinants of spatial wage disparities in South Africa: Evidence from a firm‐level panel," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2024-52, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2024-52
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp2024-52-economic-geography-determinants-spatial-wage-disparities-South-Africa.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Reinhold Kosfeld & Hans-Friedrich Eckey, 2010. "Market access, regional price level and wage disparities: the German case," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 30(2), pages 105-128, September.
    2. Pierre-Philippe Combes & Gilles Duranton & Laurent Gobillon & Sébastien Roux, 2010. "Estimating Agglomeration Economies with History, Geology, and Worker Effects," NBER Chapters, in: Agglomeration Economics, pages 15-66, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Fatih Celebioglu & Sandy Dall’erba, 2010. "Spatial disparities across the regions of Turkey: an exploratory spatial data analysis," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 45(2), pages 379-400, October.
    4. Cecile Gaubert & Rebecca Diamond, 2022. "Spatial Sorting and Inequality," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 795-819, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Burhan Can Karahasan & Firat Bilgel, 2018. "Economic Geography, Growth Dynamics and Human Capital Accumulation in Turkey: Evidence from Regional and Micro Data," Working Papers 1233, Economic Research Forum, revised 10 Oct 2018.
    2. Burhan Can Karahasan, 2014. "The Spatial Distribution Of New Firms:Can Peripheral Areas Escape From The Curse Of Remoteness?," Romanian Journal of Regional Science, Romanian Regional Science Association, vol. 8(2), pages 1-28, DECEMBER.
    3. Burhan Can Karahasan & Fatma Dogruel & Ali Suut Dogruel, 2016. "Can Market Potential Explain Regional Disparities in Developing Countries? Evidence from Turkey," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 54(2), pages 162-197, June.
    4. Burhan Can Karahasan & Fırat Bilgel, 2020. "Market access and regional dispersion of human capital accumulation in Turkey," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 1073-1101, August.
    5. Clémence Berson & Pierre-Philippe Combes & Laurent Gobillon & Aurélie Sotura, 2023. "Time-Varying Agglomeration Economies and Aggregate Wage Growth," SciencePo Working papers hal-04346733, HAL.
    6. Perl, Maximilian, 2023. "Agglomerations, tasks and wage growth," Ruhr Economic Papers 999, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    7. Colas, Mark & Saulnier, Emmett, 2023. "Vertical migration externalities," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    8. Philippe Martin & Thierry Mayer & Florian Mayneris, 2008. "Spatial Concentration and Firm-Level Productivity in France," Sciences Po publications 6858, Sciences Po.
    9. Stephan Heblich & Stephen J Redding & Daniel M Sturm, 2020. "The Making of the Modern Metropolis: Evidence from London," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(4), pages 2059-2133.
    10. Ertan Oktay & Giray Gozgor, 2013. "Trade And Regional Development In A Developing Country: The Case Of Turkey," Review of Urban & Regional Development Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 201-212, November.
    11. Bartels, Charlotte & Jäger, Simon & Obergruber, Natalie, 2020. "Long-Term Effects of Equal Sharing: Evidence from Inheritance Rules for Land," IZA Discussion Papers 13665, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Nora Libertun de Duren & Roberto Guerrero Compeán, 2016. "Growing resources for growing cities: Density and the cost of municipal public services in Latin America," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(14), pages 3082-3107, November.
    13. Carozzi, Felipe & Roth, Sefi, 2023. "Dirty density: Air quality and the density of American cities," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    14. Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt & Stephen J. Redding & Daniel M. Sturm & Nikolaus Wolf, 2015. "The Economics of Density: Evidence From the Berlin Wall," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 83, pages 2127-2189, November.
    15. Güneş Aşık & Ulaş Karakoç & Şevket Pamuk, 2023. "Regional inequalities and the West–East divide in Turkey since 1913," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(4), pages 1305-1332, November.
    16. Rhys Andrews & Malcolm J. Beynon, 2019. "Configurational Analysis of Access to Basic Infrastructure Services: Evidence from Turkish Provinces," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 31(5), pages 1341-1370, December.
    17. Stephen J. Redding & Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, 2017. "Quantitative Spatial Economics," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 9(1), pages 21-58, September.
    18. Federico Curci, 2015. "The taller the better? Agglomeration determinants and urban structure," ERSA conference papers ersa15p991, European Regional Science Association.
    19. Duranton, Gilles & Puga, Diego, 2014. "The Growth of Cities," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 5, pages 781-853, Elsevier.
    20. J. Vernon Henderson & Sebastian Kriticos, 2018. "The Development of the African System of Cities," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 10(1), pages 287-314, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Wage differentials; Spatial econometrics; Regional economics; Income distribution; Manufacturing industries; Wages; Spatial inequality; Manufacturing firms; Estimation theory;
    All these keywords.

    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:unu:wpaper:wp-2024-52. 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: Siméon Rapin (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/widerfi.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.