Premium
Meritocracy in America: Wages Within and Across Occupations
Author(s) -
Cawley John,
Heckman James,
Vytlacil Edward
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
industrial relations: a journal of economy and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.61
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1468-232X
pISSN - 0019-8676
DOI - 10.1111/0019-8676.00130
Subject(s) - meritocracy , race (biology) , wage , economics , labour economics , sociology , gender studies , market economy
In The Bell Curve , Herrnstein and Murray argue that the U.S. economy is a meritocracy in which differences in wages (including differences across race and gender) are explained by differences in cognitive ability. In this article we test their claim for wages conditional on occupation using a simultaneous model of occupation choice and wage determination. Our results contradict Herrnstein and Murray's claim that the U.S. labor market operates only on meritocratic principles.