The Slow Diffusion of Earnings Inequality

Isaac Sorkin and Melanie Wallskog

Journal of Labor Economics, 2023, vol. 41, issue S1, S95 - S127

Abstract: Rising between-firm pay dispersion accounts for the majority of the dramatic increase in earnings inequality in the United States in the last several decades. This paper shows that a distinct cross-cohort pattern drives this rise: newer cohorts of firms enter more dispersed and stay more dispersed throughout their lives. These cohort patterns suggest a link between changes in firm entry associated with the decline in business dynamism and the rise in earnings inequality. Cohort effects also imply a slow diffusion of inequality: inequality rises as younger and more unequal cohorts of firms replace older and more equal cohorts.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/726635 (application/pdf)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/726635 (text/html)
Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.

Related works:
Working Paper: The Slow Diffusion of Earnings Inequality (2023)
Chapter: The Slow Diffusion of Earnings Inequality (2021)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucp:jlabec:doi:10.1086/726635

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Labor Economics from University of Chicago Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Journals Division ().