Date of Award
8-2014
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Legacy Department
Economics
Committee Chair/Advisor
Thomas Mroz
Committee Member
Curtis Simon
Committee Member
Patrick Warren
Committee Member
Robert Tollison
Abstract
The vast empirical literature on wage differentials reflects extreme interest in the subject from economists, social scientists, and policymakers alike. A review of the literature reveals two noticeable shortcomings. First, nearly all past studies have assumed a linear relationship between earnings and worker characteristics without consideration as to the potential specification error this imposes on their estimates. Second, researchers have generally focused on simple mean effects rather than estimating the effects of characteristics and wage rates on earnings distributions as a whole. Using data from the American Community Survey, this Dissertation addresses both issues with a simple nonparametric approach, and applies the method to measure wage differentials between federal and private sector workers, as well as wage differences between males and females.
Recommended Citation
Makela, Eric, "QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF WAGE DIFFERENTIALS USING NONPARAMETRIC METHODS" (2014). All Dissertations. 1296.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/1296