Are Labor Supply Decisions Consistent with Neoclassical Preferences? : Evidence from Indian Boat Owners

Gine, Xavier ; Martinez-Bravo, Monica ; Vidal-Fernandez, Marian

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: labor market;    neoclassical economic theory;    boat owners;    expected earnings;    elasticities;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7820
RP-ID  :  WPS7820

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper studies the labor supply ofSouth Indian boat owners using daily labor participationdecisions of 249 boat owners during seven years. It teststhe standard neoclassical model of labor supply, whichpredicts that (i) individuals should be more likely to workwhen earnings are temporarily high and (ii) recentaccumulated earnings should play no role in theparticipation decision. It finds that boat owners'labor participation depends positively on expected earningsbut also on recent accumulated earnings, albeit weakly.Participation elasticities with respect to expected earningsrange between 0.8 and 1.3 and about -0.05 and -0.01 withrespect to changes in recent income. While the standardneoclassical model is statistically rejected, it is still agood approximation of the labor supply behavior of boatowners in southern India.