Profitable Discrimination: On the Optimality of Rewarding Equal Workers Unequally
2011/12/27
研討會日期 : 2011-12-27
時間 : 14:30
主講人 : Professor Yong Wang
地點 : Conference Room B110
演講者簡介 : Yong Wang received his Ph.D. in Economics from Brown University. He is currently serving as Associate Professor of Economics and Finance at City University of Hong Kong. His research field is in economic growth and development, macro and public economics and applied economic theory.
演講摘要 : We analyze the impact of social comparisons on a firm's profits and optimal wage rates. Considering workers of equal productivity, inequity can arise from profit-maximizing decisions of the firm rather than from heterogeneity in workers' productivity or employers' preferences. When a worker derives (dis)utility not only from his effort but also from unfavorable comparison of his earnings with those of his coworkers, his response to the sensing of "relative deprivation" is to increase his optimal level of effort. In the presence of such social comparisons, the firm can increase its profits by setting unequal wage rates for equally productive workers.
