Negative Returns to Seniority

New Evidence in Academic Markets

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3541936
AutoresBernt Bratsberg (0000-0002-6874-3412, Kansas State University), James F Ragan, John T Warren
Ano2003
Volume56
Fascículo2
Páginas306-323
Data de publicação2003-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoIndustrial and Labor Relations Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0019-7939 • E-ISSN: 2162-271X
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/001979390305600206
OpenAlexW2126042885
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas8
Referências citadas34

Recent research has suggested that the long-observed negative association between seniority and pay among college faculty largely reflects below-average research productivity of senior faculty—a possibility that most earlier studies did not examine. Overlooked in both waves of studies, however, is match quality. Because the higher quality of the faculty/institutional match implied by higher seniority should, all else equal, result in higher salaries, failure to account for match quality inflates the estimated returns to seniority. Indeed, that positive bias, the authors find, is roughly equal in magnitude to the negative bias caused by failure to account for research quantity and quality. When they account for both match quality and faculty research productivity in an analysis of data on economics faculty at five research universities over a 21-year period, the authors estimate that, holding experience and other factors constant, the penalty for twenty years of seniority is 16% of salary

Actuarial science · Demographic economics · Economic growth · Economics · Political science · Productivity · Quality (philosophy) · Salary · Seniority · Financial Markets and Investment Strategies · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth · Higher Education Research Studies · Labor market dynamics and wage inequality · Law