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Wages Across Regions: Responsiveness to Macro and Policy Variables

Received: 27 December 2024     Accepted: 13 January 2025     Published: 24 January 2025
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Abstract

This study reflects on the inter-regional wage variations. If labour is highly mobile then as per the neoclassical constellation wages are expected to get equalized across space. But the variations in wages and earnings across the Indian states are seen to be significant. This prompted us to investigate the wage variation issue further. The factors considered in the study include physical infrastructure, financial infrastructure, health, growth indicator, prices, policy variable such as minimum wage set by the state governments and the fiscal deficit, which may impact on wages across space. Findings are indicative of the fact that wages and earnings respond to the infrastructure and health related indicators. Economic growth and productivity rise also show a positive impact. Besides, the minimum wage policy of the government is seen to be effective, particularly in the case of those who are located at the lower rungs. The real wages/earnings do not show any significant responsiveness to price index though the association is not totally absent. Finally, the policy implications of the study are brought out.

Published in Journal of World Economic Research (Volume 14, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.jwer.20251401.12
Page(s) 13-25
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Inter-regional, Wages, Productivity, Infrastructure, Minimum Wage, Labour, Sector

References
[1] Ahluwalia, Rahul, Rana Hasan, Mudit Kapoor and Arvind Panagariya (2018), The Impact of Labor Regulations on Jobs and Wages in India: Evidence from a Natural Experiment, Working Paper No. 2018-02, Columbia, SIPA, Deepak and Neera Raj Centre on Indian Economic Policies.
[2] Autor, D. (2015) Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace Automation, Journal of Economic Perspectives 29(3): 3-30.
[3] Banerjee, Abhijit V. and Esther Duflo and Duflo (2014). Do Firms Want to Borrow More? Testing Credit Constraints Using a Directed Lending Program, The Review of Economic Studies, Volume 81, Issue 2, April 2014, Pages 572–607.
[4] Djidonou, Gbenoukpo Robert and Neil Foster-McGregor, (2020), Stagnant manufacturing growth in India: The role of the informal economy, Maastricht Economic and social Research institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT) website:
[5] Faozi A. Almaqtari & Najib H. S. Farhan & Ali T. Yahya & Eissa A. Al-Homaidi, 2020. "Macro and socio-economic determinants of firms' financial performance: empirical evidence from Indian states," International Journal of Business Excellence, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 21(4), pages 488-512.
[6] Jain, Hansa (2019), Wage–Productivity Relationship in Indian Manufacturing Industries: Evidence from State-level Panel Data, Margin The Journal of Applied Economic Research 13(3): 277-305,
[7] Korinek, Anton and Joseph E. Stiglitz, (2017), Artificial Intelligence and Its Implications for Income Distribution and Unemployment, NBER Working Paper Series, Working Paper 24174
[8] Kumar, U and P Mishra (2008): “Trade Liberalisation and Wage Inequality: Evidence from India,” Review of Development Economics, Vol 12, No 2, pp 291–311.
[9] Mills, E. S. (1999), "Earnings inequality and central-city development," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 5(Sep), pages 133-142.
[10] Mills, E. S. (1967), An Aggregative Model of Resource Allocation in a Metropolitan Area, The American Economic Review, Vol. 57, No. 2, Papers and Proceedings of the Seventy-ninth Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association (May, 1967), pp. 197-210.
[11] Mitra, Arup (2023), Barriers to Employment: Impact of Macro, Individual and Enterprise-level Variables (SpringerBriefs in Economics) Paperback – Import, 5 August 2023.
[12] Mitra, Arup & Varoudakis, Aristomene & Veganzones-Varoudakis, Marie-Ange, 2002. "Productivity and Technical Efficiency in Indian States' Manufacturing: The Role of Infrastructure," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 50(2), pages 395-426, January.
[13] OECD, 2007, Economic Policy Reforms: Going for Growth,
[14] Szirmai, Adam (2012) Industrialisation as an engine of growth in developing countries, 1950–2005, Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, vol. 23, issue 4, 406-420.
[15] Ugur, M and Arup Mitra (2017) Technology Adoption and Employment in Less Developed Countries: A Mixed-Method Systematic Review, World Development, vol. 96, issue C, 1-18.
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  • APA Style

    Mitra, A., Mishra, S. (2025). Wages Across Regions: Responsiveness to Macro and Policy Variables. Journal of World Economic Research, 14(1), 13-25. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jwer.20251401.12

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    ACS Style

    Mitra, A.; Mishra, S. Wages Across Regions: Responsiveness to Macro and Policy Variables. J. World Econ. Res. 2025, 14(1), 13-25. doi: 10.11648/j.jwer.20251401.12

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    AMA Style

    Mitra A, Mishra S. Wages Across Regions: Responsiveness to Macro and Policy Variables. J World Econ Res. 2025;14(1):13-25. doi: 10.11648/j.jwer.20251401.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.jwer.20251401.12,
      author = {Arup Mitra and Sarthak Mishra},
      title = {Wages Across Regions: Responsiveness to Macro and Policy Variables
    },
      journal = {Journal of World Economic Research},
      volume = {14},
      number = {1},
      pages = {13-25},
      doi = {10.11648/j.jwer.20251401.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jwer.20251401.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jwer.20251401.12},
      abstract = {This study reflects on the inter-regional wage variations. If labour is highly mobile then as per the neoclassical constellation wages are expected to get equalized across space. But the variations in wages and earnings across the Indian states are seen to be significant. This prompted us to investigate the wage variation issue further. The factors considered in the study include physical infrastructure, financial infrastructure, health, growth indicator, prices, policy variable such as minimum wage set by the state governments and the fiscal deficit, which may impact on wages across space. Findings are indicative of the fact that wages and earnings respond to the infrastructure and health related indicators. Economic growth and productivity rise also show a positive impact. Besides, the minimum wage policy of the government is seen to be effective, particularly in the case of those who are located at the lower rungs. The real wages/earnings do not show any significant responsiveness to price index though the association is not totally absent. Finally, the policy implications of the study are brought out.
    },
     year = {2025}
    }
    

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    AB  - This study reflects on the inter-regional wage variations. If labour is highly mobile then as per the neoclassical constellation wages are expected to get equalized across space. But the variations in wages and earnings across the Indian states are seen to be significant. This prompted us to investigate the wage variation issue further. The factors considered in the study include physical infrastructure, financial infrastructure, health, growth indicator, prices, policy variable such as minimum wage set by the state governments and the fiscal deficit, which may impact on wages across space. Findings are indicative of the fact that wages and earnings respond to the infrastructure and health related indicators. Economic growth and productivity rise also show a positive impact. Besides, the minimum wage policy of the government is seen to be effective, particularly in the case of those who are located at the lower rungs. The real wages/earnings do not show any significant responsiveness to price index though the association is not totally absent. Finally, the policy implications of the study are brought out.
    
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