Earnings and
Discrimination
收入与歧视
Chapter 19
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Differences in Earnings in the . Today
当前美国的收入差距
u The typical physician earns about $200,000 a year.
普通医生一年赚到20万美元左右。
u The typical police officer earns about $50,000 a year.
普通警官一年赚到5万美元左右。
u The typical farm worker earns about $20,000 a year.
普通农业工人一年赚到2万美元左右。
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What causes earnings to vary so much?
什么原因造成个人收入差距如此之大？
u Wages are governed by labor supply
and labor demand.
工资由劳动供给与劳动需求决定。
u Labor demand reflects the marginal
productivity of labor.
劳动需求反映了劳动的边际生产率。
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What causes earnings to vary so much?
什么原因造成个人收入差距如此之大？
u In equilibrium, each worker is paid the
value of his or her marginal contribution
to the economy’s production of goods
and services.
在均衡时，每个工人都得到了他对经济
中物品与劳务生产的边际贡献的价值。
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Some Determinants of Equilibrium Wages
决定均衡工资的若干因素
u Compensating differentials
补偿性差别工资
u Human capital 人力资本
u Ability, effort, and chance
能力、努力和机遇
u Signaling 信号
u The superstar phenomenon
超级明星现象
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Compensating Differentials
u Compensating differentials refer to
differences in wages that arises from
nonmonetary characteristics of different jobs.
u Coal miners are paid more than others with
similar levels of education.
u Night shift workers are paid more than day shift
workers.
u Professors are paid less than lawyers and doctors.
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补偿性差别工资
u 补偿性差别工资 是指不同工作的非货币
特性所引起的工资差别。
u 煤矿工人得到的工资高于其他有相似教育水
平的工人。
u 夜班工人的工资高于同类白班工人。
u 教授的工资低于受教育时间大致相同的律师
和医生。
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Human Capital 人力资本
u Human capital is the accumulation
of investments in people.
人力资本——对人的教育和在职
培训投资的积累。
u The most important type of human
capital is education.
最主要的人力资本是教育。
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Human Capital
represents an expenditure of
resources at one point in time to raise
productivity in the future.
the year 2000, a man with a college
degree earned more than 89 percent more
than without one. Women showed a 70
percent increase in earnings due to a
college degree.
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人力资本
u 教育代表着为了提高未来生产率而
在某一时点的资源支出。
u 2000年，一个有大学学位的男人的
平均收入比没有大学学位的男人多
89％。对于妇女来说，上大学的报
酬高出70％。
Table 1 Average Annual Earnings
by Educational Attainment
Copyright©2004 South-Western
表1. 受教育者的平均年收入
Copyright©2004 South-Western
1980年 2000年
男人 高中，未上大学 36 430美元 36 770美元
大学毕业 52 492美元 69 421美元
大学水平的额外百分点 ＋44％ +89%
妇女 高中，未上大学 14 953美元 17 898美元
大学毕业 23 170美元 35 431美元
大学水平的额外百分点 ＋55％ +98%
注释：收入数据根据通货膨胀进行了调整，并用2000年美元表示。
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Why has the gap in earnings between
skilled and unskilled workers risen
in recent years?
u International trade has altered the
relative demand for skilled and
unskilled labor.
u Changes in technology have altered the
relative demand for skilled and
unskilled labor.
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为什么近年熟练工人与非熟练工人之间的
收入差距扩大了呢？
u 国际贸易改变了对熟练劳动与非熟练
劳动的相对需求。
u 技术变革改变了熟练劳动与非熟练劳
动的相对需求。
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Ability, Effort, and Chance
n Natural ability is important for workers
in all occupations.
n Many personal characteristics
determine how productive workers are
and, therefore, play a role in
determining the wages they earn.
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能力、努力和机遇
n 对所有职业的工人来说，天赋能力
都是重要的。
n 许多个人特点决定了工人的劳动生
产率，因此这些特点在决定工人所
挣得的工资水平上起着重要作用。
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An Alternative View of Education: Signaling
教育的另一种观点：信号
u Firms use educational attainment as a way of
sorting between high-ability and low-ability
workers.
企业把教育状况作为区分高能力工人与低能
力工人的一种方法。
u It is rational for firms to interpret a
college degree as a signal of ability.
企业把大学学位解释为能力的信号是合理
的。
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The Superstar Phenomenon
u Superstars arise in markets that
exhibit the following characteristics:
u Every customer in the market wants to enjoy
the good supplied by the best producer.
u The good is produced with a technology that
makes it possible for the best producer to
supply every customer at a low cost.
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超级明星现象
u 超级明星 产生在有两个特点的市场
上：
u 市场上每位顾客都想享受最优生产者提供的
物品。
u 使最优生产者以低成本向每位顾客提供物品
成为可能的是生产这种物品所用的技术。
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Above-Equilibrium Wages: Minimum-Wage
Laws, Unions, and Efficiency Wages
n Why are some workers’ wages set
above the level that brings supply and
demand into equilibrium?
äMinimum-wage laws
äMarket power of labor unions
ä Efficiency wages
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高于均衡工资:最低工资法、工会和效率工资
n 为什么一些工人的工资确定在高于使
劳动供求均衡的水平上？
ä最低工资法
ä工会的市场势力
ä效率工资
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Above-Equilibrium Wages: Minimum-Wage
Laws, Unions, and Efficiency Wages
n Unions
ä A union is a worker association that
bargains with employers over wages and
working conditions.
n Strike
ä A strike refers to the organized
withdrawal of labor from a firm by a
union.
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高于均衡工资: 最低工资法、工会和效率工资
n 工会
ä工会—— 与雇主谈判工资和工作条件
的工人协会。
n 罢工
ä罢工——工会有 组织地从企业撤出劳
动。
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Above-Equilibrium Wages: Minimum-Wage
Laws, Unions, and Efficiency Wages
n Efficiency Wages
ä The theory of efficiency wages holds that a
firm can find it profitable to pay high wages
because doing so increases the productivity
of its workers. High wages may:
• reduce worker turnover.
• increase worker effort.
• raise the quality of workers that apply for jobs
at the firm.
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高于均衡工资:最低工资法、工会和效率工资
n 效率工资
ä效率工资 认为，企业会发现支付高工资
是有利的，因为这样做提高了工人的生产
率。 高工资会:
• 减少工人的流动性；
• 提高工人的努力程度；
• 提高适应企业的工人素质。
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The Economics of Discrimination
Discrimination occurs when the
marketplace offers different
opportunities to similar individuals who
differ only by race, ethnic group, sex,
age, or other personal characteristics.
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歧视经济学
当市场向那些仅仅是种族、宗教、
性别、年龄或其他个人特征不同的
相似个人提供了不同的机会时，
就出现了歧视。
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The Economics of Discrimination
歧视经济学
Although discrimination is an
emotionally charged topic, economists
try to study the topic objectively in order
to separate myth from reality.
虽然歧视是一个经常引起激烈争论的情绪
化话题，但经济学家力图客观地研究这个
题目，以便把假象与真实分开。
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Measuring Labor-Market Discrimination
劳动市场歧视的衡量
Discrimination is often measured
by looking at the average wages of
different groups.
常常通过观察不同群体的平均工资差别
来衡量劳动市场上的歧视程度。
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Measuring Labor-Market Discrimination
劳动市场歧视的衡量
Even in a labor market free of
discrimination, different people
have different wages.
即使在一个没有歧视的劳动市场上，
不同人的工资也不同。
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Measuring Labor-Market Discrimination
劳动市场歧视的衡量
People differ in the amount of human
capital they have and in the kinds of
work they are willing and able to do.
人们拥有的人力资本量以及能够并愿
意从事的工作种类不同。
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Measuring Labor-Market Discrimination
劳动市场歧视的衡量
Simply observing differences in wages
among broad groups – white and black,
men and women – says little about the
prevalence of discrimination.
简单地观察不同群体—白人与黑人、
男人与女人—之间的工资差别并没有
说明歧视的普遍性。
Table 2 Median Annual Earnings by
Race and Sex
Copyright©2004 South-Western
Table 2. 不同种族与性别的平均收入
Copyright©2004 South-Western
男人 38 870美元 30 403美元 22％
女人 28 080美元 25 107美元 11％
女人工资低 28％ 17％
（百分比）
注释：2000年数据。
白种人 黑种人 黑种人收入低（百分比）
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Measuring Labor-Market
Discrimination
Because the differences in average wages
among groups in part reflect differences
in human capital and job characteristics,
they do not by themselves say anything
about how much discrimination there is in
the labor market.
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劳动市场歧视的衡量
由于不同群体之间平均工资的差别部分
反映了人力资本和工作特性的差别，这
些差别本身对劳动市场上有多大歧视并
没有说明什么。
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Discrimination by Employers
雇主的歧视行为
Firms that do not discriminate will have
lower labor costs when they hire the
employees discriminated against.
当不进行歧视的企业雇佣受歧视的雇员
时，这些企业的劳动成本更低。
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Discrimination by Employers
雇主的歧视行为
Nondiscriminatory firms will
tend to replace firms that
discriminate.
不进行歧视的企业取代了进行
歧视的企业。
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Discrimination by Employers
u Competitive markets tend to limit
the impact of discrimination on
wages.
u Firms that do not discriminate will
be more profitable than those firms
that do discriminate.
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雇主的歧视行为
u 竞争性市场倾向于限制歧视对工
资的影响。
u 不进行歧视的企业将比进行歧视
的企业更具有赢利性。
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Discrimination by Customers
and Governments
Although the profit motive is a strong
force acting to eliminate discriminatory
wage differentials, there are limits to its
corrective abilities.
uCustomer preferences
uGovernment policies
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顾客与政府的歧视行为
虽然利润动机是消除歧视性工资差
别的一种强大力量，但也存在着针
对这种力量的矫正能力的限制。
u顾客偏好
u政府政策
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Discrimination by Customers
and Governments
•Customer preferences:
• If customers have discriminatory
preferences, a competitive market is
consistent with a discriminatory wage
differential.
•This will happen when customers are
willing to pay to maintain the
discriminatory practice.
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顾客与政府的歧视行为
顾客偏好:
•如果顾客有歧视偏好，竞争性企业就
与歧视性工资差别相一致。
•这种情况只有在顾客愿意为他们的歧
视性行为付出代价时才会发生。
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Discrimination by Customers and Governments
顾客与政府的歧视行为
Government policies: When the government
mandates discriminatory practices or
requires firms to discriminate, this may also
lead to discriminatory wage differentials.
政府政策：当政府命令实行歧视性作法或者
要求企业进行歧视时，将会导致歧视性工资
差别。
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The Debate Over Comparable Worth
关于同工同酬的争论
According to the doctrine of comparable
worth, jobs deemed comparable should
be paid the same wage.
根据同工同酬学说，可以相比的工作应
该得到相同的工资。
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The Debate Over Comparable Worth
关于同工同酬的争论
Advocates of comparable worth want jobs to
be rated according to a set of impartial
criteria such as education, experience,
responsibility, working conditions, and so on.
同工同酬的支持者根据一套客观的标准——
教育、经验、责任、工作条件等等——来评
价工作。
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The Debate Over Comparable Worth
关于同工同酬的争论
Critics of comparable worth argue
that a competitive market is the best
mechanism for setting wages.
同工同酬的批评者认为，竞争市场是
决定工资的最好机制。
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Summary
u Workers earn different wages for many
reasons.
u To some extent, wage differentials
compensate workers for job attributes.
u Workers with more human capital get
paid more than workers with less
human capital.
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小结
u 工人由于许多原因而赚到不同的工
资。
u 在某种程度上，工资差别是对工人
工作性质的补偿。
u 人力资本多的工人得到的工资高于
人力资本少的工人。
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Summary 小结
u The return to accumulating human capital is
high and has increased over the past decade.
累积的人力资本的收益是高的，而且在过去
的十年里一直在增加。
u There is much variation in earnings that
cannot be explained by things economists can
measure.
有许多收入差别不能用经济学家可以衡量的
事情来解释。
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Summary
u The unexplained variation in earnings
is largely attributable to natural ability,
effort, and chance.
u Some economists argue that more-
educated workers earn higher wages
because workers with high natural
ability use education as a way to signal
their high ability to employers.
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小结
u 收入中无法解释的变异主要归因于天
赋能力、努力和机遇。
u 一些经济学家提出，受教育更多的人
得到更高工资并不是因为教育提高了
生产率，而是因为有更高天赋能力的
工人把教育作为向雇主表示他们高能
力的信号。
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Summary
u Wages are sometimes pushed above the
equilibrium level because of minimum-wage
laws, unions, and efficiency wages.
u Some differences in earnings are attributable to
discrimination on the basis of race, sex, or other
factors.
u When measuring the amount of discrimination,
one must correct for differences in human
capital and job characteristics.
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小结
u 有时工资会高于使劳动供求平衡的水
平，这是因为最低工资法、工会和效
率工资。
u 收入中的一些差别是由于基于种族、
性别或其他因素的歧视。
u 当衡量歧视程度时，必需根据人力资
本和工作特性的差别进行矫正。
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Summary
u Competitive markets tend to limit the
impact of discrimination on wages.
u Discrimination can persist in
competitive markets if customers are
u willing to pay more to discriminatory
firms,
u or if the government passes laws
requiring firms to discriminate.
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小结
u 竞争市场倾向于限制歧视对工资的影
响。
u 在下述情况下，竞争市场上的歧视就
会继续下去
u 如果顾客愿意为歧视企业支付的更多
u 或者如果政府通过要求企业歧视的法
律。
