Edward Chamberlin: Monopolistic Competition And Pareto Optimality

In treatments of Monopolistic Competition, Edward Chamberlin and Joan Robinson are usually credited with simultaneously and independently developing the theory of monopolistic or imperfect competition.  While their contributions were indeed simultaneously developed, it is inappropriate to treat them as having duplicated each other’s efforts.  Yet it has become customary in many treatments to regard them as having done just that, and modern textbook treatments tend to mention the two as if they were interchangeable.  In no respect were they less so than in their views of the welfare implications of monopolistic competition.  But the passage of time seems to have resulted in a blurring of the distinction between them, and it has become a common practice to ascribe to monopolistic competition an incompatibility with Pareto optimality.  An important point of focus of this paper is Chamberlin’s response to the tendency to treat his analysis as indicating a market failure

The Relative Pay Of Public Employees In The U.S.: An Assessment Of Empirical Research

Beginning in the 1970’s and continuing to the present, economists have examined the pay of public sector employees.  Usually, an attempt is made to compare the compensation of public employees at various levels of government to workers in the private sector who are believed to be comparable.  Of the many studies done, there is substantial variation in the operational meaning of “comparable.”  Nonetheless, the general finding is that public employees on average receive rents or, stated otherwise, are overcompensated when compared to employees in private employment.  The estimated levels of rent seem to be highest at the federal and lowest at the local level of government.  Despite the general finding, there are substantial differences in the quantitative estimates.  The major focus of this paper is on a critical evaluation of the various empirical methodologies that have been employed.  An attempt will be made to reconcile the differences observed and to suggest improvements in the method of estimation

Wage Differentials Between The Public And The Private Sector: How Comparable Are The Workers?

This paper’s purpose is to examine the importance of controlling for the comparability of the units in a sample when examining wage differentials of various types. We use U.S. CPS data for the period 1992-2000 to compare estimated wage differentials between public and private sector workers obtained using two different methodologies: Lee’s two-step method that controls for the selection bias resulting from the non-randomness of the sample, and the propensity score matching method that controls also for the comparability of the workers. Lee’s method suggests that federal workers are paid a premium, while state and local workers are underpaid compared to private sector workers. However the matching method indicates that this data is too heterogeneous to be used to compare wages across sectors. We conclude that, when the outcome under study is not only affected by some sort of selection but also requires comparable groups, the traditional methodology may not be enough

Are Public Sector Workers More Risk Averse than Private Sector Workers?,

Available evidence suggests that stability of employment is greater in the public sector than in the private sector. The value that individuals place on tbis stability depends on tbe individual's degree of risk aversion. Economic reasoning suggests tbat, otber tbings equal, tbose individuals witb a high degree of aversion to risk will be more likely tban otbers to seek employment in the public sector. This paper tests tbat hypothesis tbrougb tbe use of probit analysis and a measure of risk aversion developed in ibe University of Micbigan's Panel Study of Income Dynamics. The results tend to confirm tbe bypotbesis, implying tbat a policy of intersectoral equality of pay for comparable jobs would result inanexcesssupplyof workers to tbe public sector

Minimum wage effects on hours, employment, and number of firms: The iowa case

V. Conclusions Our results show that minimum wages reduce employment opportunities for workers. Like the early studies, our county-level (more aggregate) estimates imply fairly modest impacts with elasticities of approximately -0.1. However, our firm-level estimates for subminimum workers imply much more elastic responses. In particular, hours elasticities are in the elastic range

Economic Analysis of Knowledge: The History of Thought and the Central Themes

Following the development of knowledge economies, there has been a rapid expansion of economic analysis of knowledge, both in the context of technological knowledge in particular and the decision theory in general. This paper surveys this literature by identifying the main themes and contributions and outlines the future prospects of the discipline. The wide scope of knowledge related questions in terms of applicability and alternative approaches has led to the fragmentation of research. Nevertheless, one can identify a continuing tradition which analyses various aspects of the generation, dissemination and use of knowledge in the economy

Labor Economics

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EKONOMI KETENAGAKERJAAN

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