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Outside Options and Wages: What Can We Learn from Subjective Assessments?

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Abstract

This paper studies the correlates of subjective assessments of how easy it would be for a worker to find another job as good as the present one and how easy it would be for an employer to replace a worker. First, I study the correlates of these two subjective assessments. Second, I study whether respondents who report better chances of reemployment receive higher wages and whether respondents who think they are easy to replace receive lower wages. The results are consistent with the standard job-matching model, which predicts that wages increase with better outside opportunity of the worker and fall with better outside opportunity of the employer.
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  • Marta Lachowska, "undated". "Outside Options and Wages: What Can We Learn from Subjective Assessments?," Upjohn Working Papers ml16-ee, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:upj:weupjo:ml16-ee
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    File URL: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00181-016-1077-5
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    Cited by:

    1. Lukesch, Veronika & Zwick, Thomas, 2021. "Outside options drive wage inequalities in continuing jobs: Evidence from a natural experiment," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-003, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    2. Simon Jäger & Christopher Roth & Nina Roussille & Benjamin Schoefer, 2021. "Worker Beliefs About Outside Options," NBER Working Papers 29623, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Veronika Lukesch & Thomas Zwick, 2024. "Do outside options drive wage inequalities in retained jobs? Evidence from a natural experiment," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 62(1), pages 127-153, March.
    4. Marta Lachowska & Alexandre Mas & Raffaele Saggio & Stephen A. Woodbury, 2022. "Wage Posting or Wage Bargaining? A Test Using Dual Jobholders," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 40(S1), pages 469-493.
    5. Simon Jäger & Christopher Roth & Nina Roussille & Benjamin Schoefer, 2024. "Worker Beliefs About Outside Options," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 139(3), pages 1505-1556.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Wages; Outside options; Job-matching model;
    All these keywords.

    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
    • J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General
    • M51 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Firm Employment Decisions; Promotions

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