Tue Oct 26 16:05:33 EDT 1999
ABSTRACTS IN ECONOMIC HISTORY
(c) 1999 EH.Net
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Name: James K. Galbraith
Email: Galbraith at mail.utexas.edu
Institution: University of Texas at Austin
Co-author: Thomas Ferguson, University of Massachusetts at Boston
Title: The American Wage Structure: 1920-1947.
Internet Address of abstracted work: Not available on the internet.
By mail:
James K. Galbraith
Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin TX 78713 USA
Language: English
Abstract:
This paper uses industrial wage data to examine changes in the
inter-industry structure of wages between 1920 and 1947. We first sort
among the available data on wage change by industry and occupation for
blocs that exhibit common patterns of wage changes over time. We then
analyze the sources of wage variation across groups and through time.. We
identify four such forces that together explain 97% of the variance in wage
change across groups, and identify variables in the historical record that
appear to correspond to these forces. This raises the possibility that
simple explanations account for most of the relative-wage changes during
the years under study. In a reversal of the usual notions of micro-to-macro
causality, we argue that a small number of macroeconomic variables account
for a large proportion of distributional changes. In a final section, we
estimate the evolution of inequality in the wage structure over time and
test a macroeconomic explanation of changing inequality in the wage
structure. The results appear to support the argument that well-known
economic and social developments, including changes in the unemployment
rate, in strikes, and in the exchange rate, played the determining roles in
the evolution.
Bibliography: Galbraith, James K. and Thomas Ferguson. " The American Wage
Structure: 1920-1947." Research in Economic History, Vol. 19, 1999,
forthcoming.
Subject: T
Geographical Area: 7
Country/Region: USA
Time Period: 8
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