Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP2770
Authors: Olympia Bover; Samuel Bentolila; Manuel Arellano
Abstract: In this Paper we analyse changes in the conditional distributions of male earnings in Spain during the 1980s. We use a large new database of records on individual workers and firms from the Spanish Social Security system for the period 1980-87. The data set is an unbalanced panel subject to censoring due to top and bottom coding. We analyse the behaviour of returns to skill and experience, across sectors and over time. We also study how these returns have been affected over the period by a host of aggregate and sector-specific factors, including unemployment rates and the sectoral coverage of trade union collective agreements.
Keywords: earnings distributions; returns to skill and experience; unions
JEL Codes: J31; J51
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| union activity (J51) | wage inequality (J31) |
| firm-level bargaining (J52) | wage inequality (J31) |
| long-term unemployment (J64) | unskilled workers' earnings (J31) |
| long-term unemployment (J64) | returns to skill (J24) |
| returns to skill (J24) | wage dispersion among college-educated workers (J31) |
| union activity (J51) | returns to skill (J24) |
| median earnings for educated and experienced workers (J31) | wage dispersion (J31) |