German Wage Underpayment: An Investigation into Labor Market Inefficiency and Discrimination

Nicht-referierte Aufsätze

Peter Dawson, Timothy Hinks, Duncan Watson

In: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference of German Socio-Economic Panel Study Users. Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung 70 (2001), 1, 107-114

Abstract

Using stochastic panel wage frontiers, this paper estimates the relative underpayment of females and males in the reunified Germany. The estimates are initially applied to discrimination analysis. It finds that females have higher underpayment and that the male-female differential increased over the period 1991–1993. However, the paper suggests that the estimates of underpayment reflect other concerns, such as dynamic monopsony. Labor market inefficiency must be taken into account before discrimination analysis is possible.

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