Escalation of real wages in Bangladesh: Is it the beginning of structural transformation?

cg.authorship.typesCGIAR single centreen
cg.contributor.affiliationInternational Food Policy Research Instituteen
cg.contributor.crpPolicies, Institutions, and Markets
cg.contributor.donorUnited States Agency for International Developmenten
cg.coverage.countryBangladesh
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2BD
cg.coverage.regionSouthern Asia
cg.coverage.regionAsia
cg.creator.identifierxiaobo zhang: 0000-0002-4981-9565
cg.creator.identifierShahidur Rashid: 0000-0001-6719-2201
cg.creator.identifierAkhter Ahmed: 0000-0002-0112-502X
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.2499/9789845063715_10en
cg.identifier.projectIFPRI - Bangladesh Research and Strategy Support Program
cg.identifier.projectIFPRI - Development Strategy and Governance Division
cg.identifier.projectIFPRI - South Asia Region
cg.identifier.projectIFPRI - Poverty, Health, and Nutrition Division
cg.identifier.publicationRankNot ranked
cg.placeDhaka, Bangladeshen
cg.reviewStatusInternal Reviewen
dc.contributor.authorZhang, Xiaoboen
dc.contributor.authorRashid, Shahiduren
dc.contributor.authorKaikaus, Ahmaden
dc.contributor.authorAhmed, Akhteren
dc.date.accessioned2024-05-22T12:09:58Zen
dc.date.available2024-05-22T12:09:58Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/142106
dc.titleEscalation of real wages in Bangladesh: Is it the beginning of structural transformation?en
dcterms.abstractWith about 1,200 people per square kilometer, Bangladesh is one the most densely populated countries on the planet. The reality of intense population pressure is reflected in commonly portrayed images in the popular media, such as crowded buses and trains with passengers on top, endless lines of human-powered rickshaws, and deaths in the thousands from both natural and man-made disasters. With increasing landlessness, and a heavy reliance on labor markets, understanding the dynamics of wage formation in this setting is critically important for identifying the process of economic transformation and poverty reduction. However, both theories and empirics of wage determination in Bangladesh, and elsewhere in developing countries, have intrigued economists for decades. The neoclassical theories, where labor demand and wages are determined by the marginal physical product, cannot explain stable wages amid seemingly unlimited supply of workers and massive involuntary unemployment in developing countries like Bangladesh. The reason is simple: if market clearing conditions hold, unemployed workers should bid down wages until full employment as reached. One set of theories that provide a more coherent explanation of stable wages amid abundant labor supply has been the nutrition-based efficiency wage theory, originally proposed by Leibenstein (1957) and Mazumdar (1959). The premise of this theory is that since productivity depends on consumption, it is in the interest of the employers to pay a wage that ensures minimum calorie requirement of the workers so that they can work effectively.en
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dcterms.bibliographicCitationZhang, Xiaobo; Rashid, Shahidur; Kaikaus, Ahmad; and Ahmed, Akhter. 2021. Escalation of real wages in Bangladesh: Is it the beginning of structural transformation? In Securing Food for All in Bangladesh, eds. Akhter Ahmed, Nurul Islam, and Mustafa K. Mujeri. Part Three: Food Security and Output Market, Chapter 10, Pp. 343-374. Dhaka, Bangladesh: University Press Limited. https://doi.org/10.2499/9789845063715_10en
dcterms.extent32 p.en
dcterms.isPartOfSecuring food for all in Bangladeshen
dcterms.issued2021-10-27
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.publisherUniversity Press Limiteden
dcterms.relationhttps://doi.org/10.2499/9789845063715en
dcterms.relationhttps://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.134737en
dcterms.relationhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/153437en
dcterms.relationhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.06.015en
dcterms.replaceshttps://ebrary.ifpri.org/digital/collection/p15738coll2/id/134711en
dcterms.subjectwagesen
dcterms.subjectstructural changeen
dcterms.subjectoff-farm employmenten
dcterms.subjectremunerationen
dcterms.subjectsocial safety netsen
dcterms.subjectpovertyen
dcterms.typeBook Chapter

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