Purpose

This paper aims to examine how the “wage premium,” the percentage by which wages earned by skilled workers exceed those of unskilled workers, varies across industries characterized by different levels of competitiveness.

Design/methodology/approach

A theoretical model employing constant elasticity of substitution (CES) utility function and constant returns to scale production function is developed and analyzed to derive the effects of industry competitiveness on the wage premium. Econometric methods are applied to Chilean manufacturing data to test implications of theoretical model.

Findings

Once the relative factor endowment is being controlled, market competition significantly reduces the wage premium. More specifically, given with the same relative factor endowment, the wage premium is significantly higher under oligopolistic competition than under monopolistic competition. Empirical evidence from Chilean manufacturers supports our theoretical conclusions.

Practical implications

During economic development, the reallocation of production factors from unskilled labor-intensive to skilled labor-intensive industries raises the wage premiums received by skilled workers. Besides, skilled workers will earn higher wages by working in more highly concentrated industries instead of more competitive industries. This needs to be considered by government policymakers who must balance promotion of technical change with prevention of extreme the income inequality.

Originality/value

This paper examines how market structure affects wage premiums, providing new insights into a well-established literature that largely maintains that wage premiums are primarily a function of relative factor endowments or international trade.

中文翻译：

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工资溢价和市场结构：来自智利制造商的理论和经验证据

目的

本文旨在研究“工资溢价”，即熟练工人工资超过非熟练工人工资的百分比，在具有不同竞争力水平的行业中是如何变化的。

设计/方法/方法

开发和分析了一个采用恒定替代弹性 (CES) 效用函数和恒定规模报酬生产函数的理论模型，以推导行业竞争力对工资溢价的影响。计量经济学方法应用于智利制造业数据，以检验理论模型的含义。

发现

一旦相对要素禀赋得到控制，市场竞争就会显着降低工资溢价。更具体地说，在相对要素禀赋相同的情况下，寡头垄断竞争下的工资溢价明显高于垄断竞争。来自智利制造商的经验证据支持我们的理论结论。

实际影响

在经济发展过程中，生产要素从非技术劳动密集型产业向技术劳动密集型产业的重新配置，提高了技术工人的工资溢价。此外，技术工人将通过在更高度集中的行业而不是更具竞争力的行业工作来获得更高的工资。这需要政府决策者加以考虑，他们必须在促进技术变革与防止极端收入不平等之间取得平衡。

原创性/价值

本文研究了市场结构如何影响工资溢价，为一个公认的文献提供了新的见解，该文献在很大程度上认为工资溢价主要是相对要素禀赋或国际贸易的函数。