劳动经济学-chapter7-wage-structure

Chapter07-TheWageStructure7-1CHAPTER77-1.Evaluatethevalidityofthefollowingclaim:TheincreasingwagegapbetweenhighlyeducatedandlesseducatedworkerswillitselfgenerateshiftsintheU.S.labormarketoverthenextdecade.Asaresultoftheseresponses,muchofthe“excess”gaincurrentlyaccruingtohighlyeducatedworkerswillsoondisappear.Theincentivesforyoungworkerstostayinschoolroseasaresultoftheincreasingwagedifferentialacrossschoolinggroups.Thewideningwageinequality,therefore,wouldbeexpectedtoincreasethenumberofyoungpersonswhoobtainacollegeeducation.Thisincreaseinthesupplyofhighlyeducatedworkerswilleventuallynarrowthewagegapbetweenthehighlyeducatedandthelesseducated.Theextenttowhichthesupplyresponsenarrowsthe“excessgain”dependsontwoparameters:(1)theelasticityofsupplymeasuringhowcollegeenrollmentsrespondtotheincreasingrelativewageofcollegegraduates;and(2)theelasticityofdemandmeasuringtheresponsivenessoftherelativewageofcollegegraduatestoanincreaseintheirsupply.Thegreatertheseelasticitiesareinthecomingyears,thegreaterrolethe“self-correcting”mechanismwillplayinreducingwageinequalityinthefuture.7-2.Whateffectwilleachofthefollowingproposedchangeshaveonwageinequality?(a)Indexingtheminimumwagetoinflation.Indexingtheminimumwagetoinflationshouldreducewageinequalitybecausetheminimumwagehelpspropupthewagesoflessskilledworkers.Notethatanincreaseintheminimumwagemayhavenegativeemploymenteffects,buttheproposedpolicyisnottoincreasetheminimumwagebutrathersimplytopreventitfromfallinginrealterms.(b)Increasingthebenefitlevelpaidtowelfarerecipients.Wageinequalitymeasuresthedispersionofwagesintheworkingpopulation.Anincreaseinwelfarebenefitswouldlikelyinduceless-skilledworkersoutofthelaborforce,andwouldreducemeasuredwageinequalitybyeffectivelyeliminatingthebottomofthewagedistribution.(c)Increasingwagesubsidiespaidtofirmsthathirelow-skillworkers.Wagesubsidieswouldincreasethedemandforlessskilledworkers,reducingwageinequality.(d)Anincreaseinborderenforcement,reducingthenumberofillegalaliensenteringthecountry.Ifillegalalienstendtoberelativelyless-skilled,thedecreaseinsupplyofillegalalienswouldraisetherelativewageoflessskilledworkers.Inaddition,iftheless-skilledillegalalienscomplementtheskillsofskillednatives,thereductioninthenumberofillegalalienswoulddecreasethewagesofskillednatives.Insum,reducingthenumberofillegalalienswouldlikelyreducewageinequality(though,itwoulddosoattheexpenseoftheentirewagedistribution).Distributingprohibited|DownloadedbyLeishaChen([e-mail])lOMoARcPSDChapter07-TheWageStructure7-27-3.From1970to2000,thesupplyofcollegegraduatestothelabormarketincreaseddramatically,whilethesupplyofhighschool(nocollege)graduatesshrunk.Atthesametime,theaveragerealwageofcollegegraduatesstayedrelativelystable,whiletheaveragerealwageofhighschoolgraduatesfell.Howcanthesewagepatternsbeexplained?Thegraphsbelowshowequilibriummovementsinthemarketforhighschoolgraduatesandinthemarketforcollegegraduates.Thedecreaseinlaborsupplyamonghighschoolgraduatesandtheincreaseinlabordemandamongcollegegraduatesistakenasgiven.Theanalysis,therefore,focusesonlabordemandforeachtypeoflabor.Givenalowersupplyofhighschoolgraduates,theonlywayfortheiraveragewagetofallisforlabordemandforhighschoolgraduatestohavedecreased(shiftedin).Givenagreatersupplyofcollegegraduates,theonlywayfortheiraveragewagetostaythesameisforlabordemandforcollegegraduatestohaveincreased(shiftedout).LaborMarketforCollegeGraduatesLD1970LS2000LS1970LD2000L1970L2000w1970=w2000LaborMarketforHighSchoolGraduatesLD1970LS2000LS1970LD2000L1970L2000w1970w2000Distributingprohibited|DownloadedbyLeishaChen([e-mail])lOMoARcPSDChapter07-TheWageStructure7-37-4.(a)IsthepresenceofanundergroundeconomylikelytoresultinaGinicoefficientthatover-statesorunder-statespoverty?Thelargertheundergroundeconomy,themoretheGinicoefficientislikelytoover-statepovertyastheundergroundeconomytendstoemploylow-skill,low-incomeworkers.(b)Considerasimpleeconomywhere90percentofcitizensreportanannualincomeof$10,000whiletheremaining10percentreportanannualincomeof$110,000.WhatistheGinicoefficientassociatedwiththiseconomy?Asallcitizensineachgroupreceiveanequalincome,theactualLorenzcurvewillbeastraightlinewithineachgroup.Let’ssupposethereare1,000citizens.The90%ofpoorestcitizens,therefore,receive0.90x1000x$10,000=$9million.Theentireeconomy,though,earns0.9(10,000)+0.1(110,000)=$20million.Therefore,thebottom90%receives9÷20=45%oftotalincome.TheperfectandactualLorenzecurvescannowbedrawnrathereasily.TheGinicoefficientisnoweasilycalculatedbyseeingthattheareabeneaththeactualLorenzcurveistwotrianglesandonerectangle.45.0)2/1()55.0)(1.0)(2/1()45.0)(1.0()45.0)(9.0)(2/1()2/1(Gini.(c)Supposethepoorest90percentofcitizensactuallyhaveanincomeof$15,000becauseeachreceives$5,000ofunreportedincomefromtheundergroundeconomy.WhatistheGinicoefficientnow?Theproblemisidenticaltothatabove,buttheincomelevelschange.Inthiscase,percapitaGDPis0.9x15,000+0.1x110,000=$24,500sototalincomeofthe1,000citizensis$24,500,000.Lastly,thetotalincomeshareofthepoorest90%ofcitizensis900x1500