TY  - JOUR
AU  - Van Biesebroeck, Johannes
TI  - Wage and Productivity Premiums in Sub-Saharan Africa
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13306
PY  - 2007
Y2  - August 2007
DO  - 10.3386/w13306
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13306
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13306.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Johannes Van Biesebroeck
Department of Economics
KU Leuven
Naamsestraat 69
3000 Leuven
Belgium
Tel: +32 16 32 67 93
Fax: +32 16 32 67 96
E-Mail: jo.vanbiesebroeck@kuleuven.be
M1  - published as Johannes Van Biesebroeck. "Wage and Productivity Premiums in Sub-Saharan Africa," in Stefan Bender, Julia Lane, Kathryn Shaw, Fredrik Andersson, and Till von Wachter, editors, "The Analysis of Firms and Employees: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches" University of Chicago Press (2008)

M3  - presented at "The Analysis of Firms and Employees", January 2, 2007
AB  - Using a matched employer-employee data set of manufacturing plants in three sub-Saharan countries, I compare the marginal productivity of different categories of workers with the wages they earn. A methodological contribution is to estimate the firm level production function jointly with the individual level wage equation using a feasible GLS estimator. The additional information of individual workers leads to more precise estimates, especially of the wage premiums, and to a more accurate test. The results indicate that equality holds strongly for the most developed country in the sample (Zimbabwe), but not at all for the least developed country (Tanzania). Moreover, the breakdown in correct remuneration in the two least developed countries follows a distinct pattern. On the one hand, wage premiums exceed productivity premiums for general human capital characteristics (experience and schooling). On the other hand, salaries hardly increase for more firm-specific human capital characteristics (tenure and training), even though these have a clear productivity effect.
ER  -