Accounting for South/Non-South Real Wage Differentials and for Changes in Those Differentials over Time
提出了一个统一的分析框架，用于解释1979年美国南方与非南方之间的实际工资差异，以及1973年至1979年间工资比率的变化。研究发现，特征回报差异与特征本身差异同样重要，且超过一半的工资比率变化可由南方与非南方之间特征回报的相对变化解释。
A unified accounting framework for analyzing differences in real wages between the South and non-South in 1979 and for changes in South/non-South wage ratios between 1973 and 1979 is outlined. Cross-section analysis of real wage differentials allows two sources of regional wage variation: (1) worker and job characteristics; and (2) returns to those characteristics. Our results suggest that differences in the latter may be as important in accounting for regional wage differentials as the former. An interactive specification permits decomposition of changes in regional wage ratios into direct effects of changes in characteristics and indirect effects of region, year, and region-year variations in returns. More than half the predicted changes in South/non-South wage ratios can be accounted for by changing relative returns to characteristics between the South and non-South.