How do human beings make wage comparisons? This paper provides empirical support for an approach suggested by the psychologist Allen Parducci. The paper combines an experimental study with an analysis of data on 16,000 British employees. Satisfaction levels are shown to depend not simply upon relative pay but upon an individual’s ordinal rank within a comparison group (for example, whether the ...

The paper analyses the links between a binding minimum wage and union bargaining. A dual labour market model is developed where the rst sector outcome is characterised by bargaining between unions and rms, while in the second sector rms have to pay a statutory minimum wage. It is shown that a minimum wage increase has negative employment e ects only if the bargaining outcome is described by the...

We utilize over 30 years of the Current Population Survey to examine labor force participation and wage patterns among five cohorts of white and black women. By estimating wages using four selection correction techniques in determining the wage gap for women who are not in the labor force, we provide evidence of the changing role of selection among women over time. We find an increasing observe...

We study a repeated principal-agent interaction, in which the principal offers a "spot" wage contract at every period, and the agent’s outside option follows a Markov process with  shocks. If the agent rejects an offer, the two parties are permanently separated. At any period during the relationship, the agent is productive if and only if his wage does not fall below a "reference point" (b...

We study a model in which management and a union bargain sequentially, first choosing a rule that will later determine the level of employment, and then choosing a wage. The government then chooses an output or an employment subsidy. An exogenous natural turnover rate in the unionized sector creates unemployment whenever the union wage exceeds the competitive wage. Government intervention can i...