Wage Determination in Social Occupations: The Role of Individual Social Capital

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in www.econstor.euThe authors appreciate comments from and discussions with Melissa R. Banzhaf, Tim Dunne, Barry Hirsch, Lisa Kahn, Tom Mroz, M. Melinda Pitts, and Matthew Ross. Research assistance from Augustine Denteh, Tom Zichong Qu, and Kalee Burns is also appreciated. Any opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the authors' and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Census Bureau, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the Federal Reserve System, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or the Economic Research Service. All results have been reviewed to ensure that no confidential information is disclosed. Any remaining errors are the authors' responsibility. Abstract: We make use of predicted social and civic activities (social capital) to account for selection into "social" occupations. Individual selection accounts for more than the total difference in wages observed between social and nonsocial occupations. The role that individual social capital plays in selecting into these occupations and the importance of selection in explaining wage differences across occupations is similar for both men and women. We make use of restricted data from the 2000 decennial census and the 2000 Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey. Individual social capital is instrumented by distance-weighted surrounding census tract characteristics.JEL classification: J31, J24, C34

Occupational Social Value and Returns to Long Hours

“…The other five include guidance and vocation counsellors, clergy, psychologists, social workers and special education teachers. My ranking of occupations based on their pro‐social orientation is similar to those in Hirsch and Manzella (), also derived from O*NET data, and Hotchkiss and Rupasingha (), based on a career counselling website.…”

“…Their models suggest that such workers are underpaid from a social efficiency perspective in monopsony markets. Aside from worker preferences, Hotchkiss and Rupasingha () show that part of the selection of workers into pro‐social occupations is driven by comparative advantage.…”