The interaction between explicit contracting and economic conditions in labour markets.

Guadelupe, Maria (2005) The interaction between explicit contracting and economic conditions in labour markets. PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.

Preview

PDF Download (6MB) | Preview

Abstract

The study of labour markets is often limited to labour market institutions themselves and the link to other areas in economics, in particular product markets, is scarce. The purpose of this thesis is to shed light on the interaction between economic conditions and explicit contracting in labour markets. Chapters One and Two investigate how wages change in the face of changes in product market competition and propose a hypothesis for recent increases in wage inequality. In Chapter One I explain why firms competing in an oligopolistic market alter how much they are willing to pay to attract good workers and how wage inequality within industries (and observed skill groups) may arise from these changes in product market competition. I then look at the actual impact of product market competition using a panel of individuals for the U.K. and concentration measures and two natural experiments as measures of competition. The results point to the fact that increased competition raises the returns to skills and hence wage inequality. Chapter Two takes investigates the impact of product market competition on performance related pay. I analyse compensation equations of US managers and obtain that increased competition implies increased steepness of the performance pay relationship that raises the variance of wages. Chapter Three assesses whether there is a systematic relationship between the type of contract held and an aspect of workers welfare. I analyse whether the large difference between the work accident rates of fixed-term and permanent contract workers in Spain is not just the result of a compositional effect but that a pure contractual effect exists. The results indicate there is a pure contractual effect that increases the individual accident probability by 5 percentage points. Finally Chapter Four is an analysis of the relative impact of household income and unemployment benefit on unemployment duration, with a particular focus on female behaviour.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Economics, Labor
Sets:	Collections > ProQuest Etheses Departments > Economics
URI:	http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/2126

Actions (login required)

Record administration - authorised staff only