Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Piece rates and workplace injury
T2 - does survey evidence support Adam Smith?
AU - Bender, Keith
AU - Green, Colin
AU - Heywood, John
PY - 2012/1
Y1 - 2012/1
N2 - While piece rates are routinely associated with higher productivity and wages, they can also generate unanticipated effects. Using cross-country European data, we provide among the first general survey evidence of a strong link between piece rates and workplace injury. Despite controls for workplace hazards, job characteristics and worker effort, piece rates workers suffer a 5 percentage point greater likelihood of injury. This remains despite attempts to control for endogeneity and heterogeneity. As piece rate wage premium estimates rarely control for injury likelihood, this raises the specter that part of that premium reflects a compensating wage differential for risk of injury.
AB - While piece rates are routinely associated with higher productivity and wages, they can also generate unanticipated effects. Using cross-country European data, we provide among the first general survey evidence of a strong link between piece rates and workplace injury. Despite controls for workplace hazards, job characteristics and worker effort, piece rates workers suffer a 5 percentage point greater likelihood of injury. This remains despite attempts to control for endogeneity and heterogeneity. As piece rate wage premium estimates rarely control for injury likelihood, this raises the specter that part of that premium reflects a compensating wage differential for risk of injury.
U2 - 10.1007/s00148-011-0393-5
DO - 10.1007/s00148-011-0393-5
M3 - Journal article
VL - 25
SP - 569
EP - 590
JO - Journal of Population Economics
JF - Journal of Population Economics
SN - 1432-1475
IS - 2
ER -