Quarterly Journal of Economics Vol. 97 No. 4 1982
Labor Contracts as Partial Gift Exchange
Abstract
This paper explains involuntary unemployment in terms of the response of firms to workers' group behavior. Workers' effort depends upon the norms determining a fair day's work. In order to affect those norms, firms may pay more than the market-clearing wage. Industries that pay consistently more than the market-clearing wage are primary, and those that pay only the market-clearing wage are secondary. Thus, this paper also gives a theory for division of labor markets between primary and secondary.
- DOI
- 10.2307/1885099
- Volume
- 97
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 543
- Sources
- openalex crossref