IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wop/pennhp/_066.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Comparative Advantage, Information and the Allocation of Workers to Tasks: Evidence from an Agricultural Labor Market

Author

Listed:
  • Mark Rosenzweig
  • Andrew D. Foster

Abstract

We use data from an agricultural labour market in which workers receive both time- and piece-rate wages and shift frequently among employers and tasks, to assess the roles of comparative advantage, information problems and preferences in determining the allocation of workers. The estimates which impose minimal structure not implied by economic theory are consistent with a one-factor productivity model, and indicate that information asymmetries are present but workers are sorted according to comparative advantage. In particular, the disproportionate presence of female workers in weeding activities is due not to worker or employer preferences but to comparative advantage and statistical discrimination.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Rosenzweig & Andrew D. Foster, "undated". "Comparative Advantage, Information and the Allocation of Workers to Tasks: Evidence from an Agricultural Labor Market," Home Pages _066, University of Pennsylvania.
    • Handle: RePEc:wop:pennhp:_066
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://adfdell.pstc.brown.edu/papers/task.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Becker, Gary S., 1971. "The Economics of Discrimination," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 2, number 9780226041162, April.
    2. Chamberlain, Gary, 1984. "Panel data," Handbook of Econometrics, in: Z. Griliches† & M. D. Intriligator (ed.), Handbook of Econometrics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 22, pages 1247-1318, Elsevier.
    3. Card, David & Lemieux, Thomas, 1996. "Wage dispersion, returns to skill, and black-white wage differentials," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 319-361, October.
    4. David Card & Thomas Lemieux, 1993. "Wage Dispersion, Returns to Skill, and Black-White Wage Differentials," Working Papers 691, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    5. Goldin, Claudia, 1986. "Monitoring Costs and Occupational Segregation by Sex: A Historical Analysis," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(1), pages 1-27, January.
    6. Chamberlain, Gary, 1982. "Multivariate regression models for panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 5-46, January.
    7. Weiss, Andrew W, 1980. "Job Queues and Layoffs in Labor Markets with Flexible Wages," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 88(3), pages 526-538, June.
    8. repec:fth:prinin:312 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Bouis, Howarth E. & Haddad, Lawrence James, 1990. "Effects of agricultural commercialization on land tenure, household resource allocation, and nutrition in the Philippines:," Research reports 79, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    10. Abowd, John M & Card, David, 1989. "On the Covariance Structure of Earnings and Hours Changes," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 57(2), pages 411-445, March.
    11. A. D. Roy, 1951. "Some Thoughts On The Distribution Of Earnings," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 3(2), pages 135-146.
    12. Heckman, James J & Sedlacek, Guilherme, 1985. "Heterogeneity, Aggregation, and Market Wage Functions: An Empirical Model of Self-selection in the Labor Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(6), pages 1077-1125, December.
    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. Burgess, Simon & Lane, Julia & Stevens, David, 1997. "Jobs, Workers and Changes in Earnings Dispersion," CEPR Discussion Papers 1714, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. McLaughlin, Kenneth J & Bils, Mark, 2001. "Interindustry Mobility and the Cyclical Upgrading of Labor," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(1), pages 94-135, January.
    3. Ahn, Seung C. & Schmidt, Peter, 1995. "Efficient estimation of models for dynamic panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 5-27, July.
    4. Teulings, Coen N, 1995. "The Wage Distribution in a Model of the Assignment of Skills to Jobs," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(2), pages 280-315, April.
    5. Jesse Rothstein, 2010. "Teacher Quality in Educational Production: Tracking, Decay, and Student Achievement," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(1), pages 175-214.
    6. Tavneet Suri, 2006. "Selection and Comparative Advantage in Technology Adoption," Working Papers 944, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
    7. Manuel Arellano & Olympia Bover, 1990. "La econometría de datos de panel," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 14(1), pages 3-45, January.
    8. Emmanuel Duguet & David Gray & Yannick L'Horty & Loïc du Parquet & Pascale Petit, 2020. "Labour market effects of urban riots: An experimental assessment," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(3), pages 787-806, June.
    9. Boehm, Michael J., 2013. "Has job polarization squeezed the middle class? Evidence from the allocation of talents," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 51554, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Michael J. Boehm, 2013. "Has Job Polarization Squeezed the Middle Class? Evidence from the Allocation of Talents," CEP Discussion Papers dp1215, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    11. Kevin Lang & William T. Dickens, 1987. "Neoclassical and Sociological Perspectives on Segmented Labor Markets," NBER Working Papers 2127, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Simon Burgess & Julia Lane & Kevin McKinney, 2009. "Matching, Reallocation and Changes in Earnings Dispersion," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 71(1), pages 91-110, February.
    13. B. T. Hirsch & D. A. Macpherson, "undated". "Wages, racial composition, and quality sorting in labor markets," Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Papers 1038-94, University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty.
    14. Emmanuel Duguet & Loïc du Parquet & Pascale Petit, 2017. "Hiring discrimination against women: distinguishing taste based discrimination from statistical discrimination," TEPP Working Paper 2017-11, TEPP.
    15. Andrén, Daniela, 2012. "Romanians, Hungarians and their wages, in transition, in Romania," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 2673-2685.
    16. Laisney, François & Pohlmeier, Winfried & Staat, Matthias, 1991. "Estimation of labour supply functions using panel data: a survey," ZEW Discussion Papers 91-05, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    17. Ismaël Mourifié & Marc Henry & Romuald Méango, 2020. "Sharp Bounds and Testability of a Roy Model of STEM Major Choices," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(8), pages 3220-3283.
    18. Chernozhukov, Victor & Fernández-Val, Iván & Hoderlein, Stefan & Holzmann, Hajo & Newey, Whitney, 2015. "Nonparametric identification in panels using quantiles," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 188(2), pages 378-392.
    19. Gerald E. Auten & Holger Sieg & Charles T. Clotfelter, 2002. "Charitable Giving, Income, and Taxes: An Analysis of Panel Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 371-382, March.
    20. Lex Borghans & Angela Lee Duckworth & James J. Heckman & Bas ter Weel, 2008. "The Economics and Psychology of Personality Traits," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(4).

    More about this item

    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:wop:pennhp:_066. 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: Thomas Krichel (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deupaus.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.