Incentives for managers and inequality among workers: Evidence from a firm-level experiment

O Bandiera, I Barankay, I Rasul - The Quarterly Journal of …, 2007 - academic.oup.com
The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2007academic.oup.com
We present evidence from a firm level experiment in which we engineered an exogenous
change in managerial compensation from fixed wages to performance pay based on the
average productivity of lower-tier workers. Theory suggests that managerial incentives affect
both the mean and dispersion of workers' productivity through two channels. First, managers
respond to incentives by targeting their efforts towards more able workers, implying that both
the mean and the dispersion increase. Second, managers select out the least able workers …
Abstract
We present evidence from a firm level experiment in which we engineered an exogenous change in managerial compensation from fixed wages to performance pay based on the average productivity of lower-tier workers. Theory suggests that managerial incentives affect both the mean and dispersion of workers' productivity through two channels. First, managers respond to incentives by targeting their efforts towards more able workers, implying that both the mean and the dispersion increase. Second, managers select out the least able workers, implying that the mean increases but the dispersion may decrease. In our field experiment we find that the introduction of managerial performance pay raises both the mean and dispersion of worker productivity. Analysis of individual level productivity data shows that managers target their effort towards high ability workers, and the least able workers are less likely to be selected into employment. These results highlight the interplay between the provision of managerial incentives and earnings inequality among lower-tier workers.
Oxford University Press
以上显示的是最相近的搜索结果。 查看全部搜索结果