Wage Inequalities in East and West

This book analyzes wage hierarchy in market and planning theory, and how these theories can be used as a basis for the comparison of wage structures in Western and Soviet-type systems. The author analyzes statistical data from ten countries in both systems at the beginning of the eighties, and attempts to account for wage dispersion by examining such factors as education and training, discrimination against women, and market structure, as well as the influence of systemic factors. Professor Redor asserts that systemic differences are not the most significant determinants of wage inequality (the Soviet Union is found to be on a par with the United Kingdom for example), and argues that similarities between the two systems in the dispersion of wages are due to similar patterns of work organization and wage policies within firms, and that many determinants of wage inequality are in fact common to both systems.