Working Paper

Wage Determination in Social Occupations: The Role of Individual Social Capital

Abstract: We make use of predicted social and civic activities (social capital) to account for selection into \"social\" occupations. Individual selection accounts for more than the total difference in wages observed between social and nonsocial occupations. The role that individual social capital plays in selecting into these occupations and the importance of selection in explaining wage differences across occupations is similar for both men and women. We make use of restricted data from the 2000 decennial census and the 2000 Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey. Individual social capital is instrumented by distance-weighted surrounding census tract characteristics.

Keywords: social capital; wage differentials; occupational choice; switching regression; nonpublic data; factor analysis;

JEL Classification: C34; J24; J31;

Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

Part of Series: FRB Atlanta Working Paper

Publication Date: 2016-11-01

Number: 2016-12

Pages: 61 pages