Clark, Andrew E., Masclet, David and Villeval, Marie-Claire
(2008)
Effort and comparison income: experimental and survey evidence.
CEP Discussion Paper,
No. 886.
Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.
ISBN 9780853282938
Abstract
This paper considers the effect of status or relative income on work effort, combining experimental evidence from a gift-exchange game with the analysis of multi-country ISSP survey data. We find a consistent negative effect of others’ incomes on individual effort in both datasets. The individual’s rank in the income distribution is a stronger determinant of effort than is others’ average income, suggesting that comparisons are more ordinal than cardinal. In the experiment, effort is also affected by comparisons over time: those who received higher income offers or enjoyed higher income rank in the past exert lower levels of effort for a given current income and rank.
| Item Type: |
Monograph
(Discussion Paper)
|
| Official URL: |
http://cep.lse.ac.uk/ |
| Additional Information: |
© 2008 The authors |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Effort, comparison income, rank, peak-end, experiments |
| Library of Congress subject classification: |
H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor |
| Journal of Economic Literature Classification System: |
J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J3 - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs > J33 - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
M - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting > M5 - Personnel Economics > M54 - Labor Management (team formation, worker empowerment, job design, tasks and authority, work arrangemetns, job satisfaction)
C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C9 - Design of Experiments > C92 - Laboratory, Group Behavior
A - General Economics and Teaching > A1 - General Economics > A13 - Relation of Economics to Social Values
D - Microeconomics > D6 - Welfare Economics > D63 - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement |
| Sets: |
Collections > Economists Online
Research centres and groups > Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) |
| Rights: |
http://www.lse.ac.uk/library/rights/LSERO.htm |
| Identification Number: |
No. 886 |
| URL: |
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/28502/ |
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