This setting lets you change the way you view articles. You can choose to have articles open in a dialog window, a new tab, or directly in the same window.
Open in Dialog
Open in New Tab
Open in same window

American Economic Review: Vol. 101 No. 2 (April 2011)

AER Volume. 101, Issue 2 | leftPrevious ArticleNext Articleright

Expand

Quick Tools:

Print Article Summary Email Link to this Article Export Citation
Sign up for Email Alerts Follow us on Twitter

Explore:

AER - All Issues

AER Forthcoming Articles

Deferred Compensation in Multiperiod Labor Contracts: An Experimental Test of Lazear's Model

Article Citation

Huck, Steffen, Andrew J. Seltzer, and Brian Wallace. 2011. "Deferred Compensation in Multiperiod Labor Contracts: An Experimental Test of Lazear's Model." American Economic Review, 101(2): 819-43.

DOI: 10.1257/aer.101.2.819

Abstract

This paper provides the first experimental test of Edward Lazear's (1979) model of deferred compensation. We examine the relationship between firms' wage offers and workers' effort supply in a multi-period environment. If firms can ex ante commit to a wage schedule with deferred compensation, workers should respond by supplying sufficient effort to avoid dismissal. We contrast this full-commitment case to controls with no commitment and computer-generated wages in order to examine the roles of monetary incentives, social preferences, and reciprocity. Finally, we examine a setup without formal commitment, but where firms can build a reputation for paying deferred wages. (JEL D86, J22, J31, J33, J41)

Article Full-Text Access

Full-text Article

Additional Materials

Download Data Set (687.89 KB)

Authors

Huck, Steffen (U College London and ELSE)
Seltzer, Andrew J. (Royal Holloway, U London)
Wallace, Brian (U College London)

JEL Classifications

D86: Economics of Contract: Theory
J22: Time Allocation and Labor Supply
J31: Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
J33: Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
J41: Labor Contracts


American Economic Review



AEA Member Login:


Quick Tools:

Email Link to this Issue

Sign up for Email Alerts

Follow us on Twitter

Subscription Information
(Institutional Administrator Access)

Explore:

AER - All Issues

AER - Forthcoming Articles

AEA Journals

Virtual Field Journals

AEAweb | AEA Journals | Contact Us