Industry mean wages in China have exhibited sharply increased dispersion since the early 1990, and the wage pattern has become increasingly similar to the that of developed countries and to two major emerging economies, Russia and Brazil. The upward trend in differences of average wages among...

We examine the role of potential residual revenue in determining the pay of skilled workers and enterprise directors relative to production workers in China's Township and Village Enterprises (TVEs) in the period from 1984 to 1990. The potential residual is proxied negatively by returns to scale...

Despite indications that interpersonal interactions are important for understanding individual labor-market outcomes and have become more important over the last decades, there is little analysis by economists. This paper shows that interpersonal interactions are important determinants of...

This paper offers an explanation for the evolution of wage inequality within and between industries and education groups over the past several decades. The model is based on the disproportionate depreciation of technology-specific skills versus general skills due to technological progress, which...

Individuals choose to invest in general skills through education or technology-specific skills by working on the job. Technological progress, which occurs randomly across sectors, depreciates technology-specific skills - thus increasing the return to education and generating a precautionary...