Persistent inter-industry wage differentials are an enduring puzzle for neoclassical economics. This paper applies the classical theory of ‘real competition’ to inter-industry wage differentials. Theoretically, we argue that competitive wage determination can be decomposed into equalizing, dispersing and turbulently equalizing factors. Empirically, we show graphically and econometrically for 31 U.S. industries in 1987-2016 that wage differentials, like regulating profit rates, are governed by turbulent equalization. Furthermore, we apply a fixed effects OLS as well as a hierarchical Bayesian inference model and find that the link between regulating profit rates and wage differentials is positive, significant and robust.

中文翻译：

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行业间工资不平等：持续的差异和动荡的均等化

持续的行业间工资差异是新古典经济学的一个持久难题。本文将“真实竞争”的经典理论应用于行业间工资差异。从理论上讲，我们认为竞争性工资决定可以分解为均衡、分散和动荡均衡因素。根据经验，我们以图形和计量经济学的方式显示了 1987 年至 2016 年美国 31 个行业的工资差异，如调节利润率，受动荡的均等化支配。此外，我们应用固定效应 OLS 以及分层贝叶斯推理模型，发现调节利润率和工资差异之间的联系是积极的、显着的和稳健的。