The Distribution of Wages in Belarus

This paper uncovers evidence on the distribution of wages in Belarus in the second half of the 1990s. The returns to education and work experience are high and stable. While the former is a typical finding of transition studies, the latter is not. This might be due to the pervasive role of the state in fixing wages in the dominant budget sector, rather than to market forces coming into play. Women experience a small, though largely unexplained wage gap coupled with higher than average returns to education. A wage curve effect is found, which is similar in size to that of other transition countries, but much higher than in market economies. Comparative Economic Studies (2006) 48, 351–376. doi:10.1057/palgrave.ces.8100071

Foreign presence and efficiency in transition economies

FDI, DEA, Bootstrap, Transition economies, F21, C34, O33,

When Opportunity Knocks: Confronting Theory and Empirics About Dynamics of Gender Wage Inequality

We present empirical evidence that large structural shocks are followed by changes in labor market inequality. Specifically, we study short-run fluctuations in adjusted gender wage gaps (unequal pay for equal work) following episodes of structural shocks in the labor markets, using several decades of individual data for a wide selection of transition countries. We find that for cohorts who entered the labor market after the onset of transition. Labor market shocks lead to significant declines in the gender wage gap. This decrease is driven mostly by episodes experienced among cohorts who enter the labor market during the transition. By contrast, we fail to find any significant relation for cohorts already active in the labor market at the time of transition. We provide plausible explanations based on sociological and economic theories of inequality