Year
2006
Series
Upjohn Institute Working Paper No. 06-129
Published Version
Article in The Review of Economics and Statistics 91(4) (November): 832-849.
Abstract
We analyze a model of wage delay in which strategic complementarity arises because each employer's costs of violating its contracts decrease with the arrears in its labor market. The model is estimated on panel data for workers and firms in Russia, facilitating identification through fixed effects for employees, employers, and local labor markets, and instrumental variables based on policy interventions. The estimated reaction function displays strongly positive neighborhood effects, and the estimated feedback loops - worker quits, effort, strikes, and legal penalties - imply that costs of wage delays are attenuated by neighborhood arrears. We also study a nonlinear case with two stable equilibria: a punctual payment and a late payment equilibrium. The estimates imply that the theoretical conditions for multiple equilibria under symmetric labor market competition are satisfied in our data.
Citation
Earle, John S., and Klara Sabirianova Peter. 2006. "Complementarity and Custom in Wage Contract Violation." Upjohn Institute Working Paper No. 06-129. Kalamazoo, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
Issue Date
Revised: July 2006
Note
This paper is a revised version of Upjohn Institute Working Paper no. 04-101
Subject Areas
EMPLOYMENT and COMPENSATION, Wages and benefits, GLOBAL ISSUES, Transition economies, Firm behavior and ownership
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