Quantitative Economics

Journal Of The Econometric Society

Edited by: Stéphane Bonhomme • Print ISSN: 1759-7323 • Online ISSN: 1759-7331

Quantitative Economics: Nov, 2022, Volume 13, Issue 4

The evolution of the earnings distribution in a volatile economy: Evidence from Argentina

https://doi.org/10.3982/QE1857
p. 1361-1403

Andrés Blanco, Bernardo Diaz de Astarloa, Andres Drenik, Christian Moser, Danilo R. Trupkin

This paper studies earnings inequality and dynamics in Argentina between 1996 and 2015. Following the 2001–2002 crisis, the Argentine economy transitioned from a low‐ to a high‐inflation regime, while collective bargaining and the minimum wage gained influence. This transition was associated with a persistent decrease in earnings dispersion and cyclical movements in higher‐order moments of the distribution of earnings changes. To shed light on the changing nature of wage rigidity during this period, we develop a new method to estimate regular‐wage processes. As the Argentine economy transitioned from low to high inflation, the monthly frequency of regular‐wage changes almost doubled, while the distribution of regular‐wage changes morphed from having a mode around zero and positive skewness to having a positive mode and more symmetric tails.


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Supplemental Material

Supplement to "The evolution of the earnings distribution in a volatile economy: Evidence from Argentina"

Andres Blanco, Bernardo Diaz de Astarloa, Andres Drenik, Christian Moser, and Danilo R. Trupkin

Supplement to "The evolution of the earnings distribution in a volatile economy: Evidence from Argentina"

Andres Blanco, Bernardo Diaz de Astarloa, Andres Drenik, Christian Moser, and Danilo R. Trupkin