How Unfair is the Inequality of Wage Earnings in Russia? : Estimates from Panel Data
This paper attempts to determine the extent to which inequality in wage earnings in the Russian Federation is unfair. Unlike other similar attempts that can, at best, produce a lower bound on the estimate of the share of inequality that is unfair,...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2015
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/06/24583161/unfair-inequality-wage-earnings-russia-estimates-panel-data http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22162 |
| Summary: | This paper attempts to determine the
extent to which inequality in wage earnings in the Russian
Federation is unfair. Unlike other similar attempts that
can, at best, produce a lower bound on the estimate of the
share of inequality that is unfair, this paper exploits the
longitudinal nature of the data to come up with a lower
bound as well as an upper bound. The upper bound is further
refined to take into account the indirect effect of
circumstances at birth (gender, parental wealth, etc.) on
effort. Results show that the upper bound on the inequality
of opportunity may be three to four times the measured lower
bound and significantly higher for females than males in the
sample. Finally, comparison with the United States and
Germany show that although total inequality is lower in
Russia, the share of unfair inequality is distinctly larger.
The markedly large explanatory role of extraneous factors,
such as gender and parental characteristics, in wage
inequality calls for a close examination of governments’
efforts to address inequities in the labor market. |
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