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This paper examines the impact of the legal status of overseas migrants on their wages upon return to the home country. Using unique data from the Arab Republic of Egypt, which allows distinguishing between return migrants according to whether their international migration was documented or undocumented, the paper examines the impact of illegal status on wages upon return. Relying on a conditional mixed process model, which takes into account the selection into emigration, return, and the legal status of temporary migration, the analysis finds that, upon return, undocumented migrants experience a wage penalty compared with documented migrants, as well as relative to non-migrants. The results are the first to show the impact of undocumented migration on the migrant upon return to the country of origin.

Migrant Labor --- Poverty Reduction --- Return Migration --- Social Protections and Labor --- Undocumented Migration --- Wages --- Wages, Compensation and Benefits

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In the last decades, Brazil experienced a historical decline in its wage inequality level, particularly in the first decade of the 21^st century. This paper reviews the literature that attempted to explain the observed pattern. It considers mechanisms related to the supply and demand for labor, as well as institutional factors. The paper argues that the favorable economic environment in the period, combined with increases in the minimum wage, higher formalization, and a larger supply of skilled workers led to a compression in wages. However, some aspects of the decline in wage inequality are still unanswered, such as the causes behind a reduction in the experience premium and interfirm payment heterogeneity, as well as the exact role of technological changes. The paper concludes by discussing future trends in wage inequality in Brazil.

Gender --- Gender and Development --- Gender and Poverty --- Income Distribution --- Inequality --- Labor Markets --- Poverty --- Skill Premium --- Social Protections and Labor --- Wage Inequality --- Wages, Compensation and Benefits

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The degree of concentration and market power in South African markets has been the topic of much policy discussion. However, there has been little evidence on what drives market power and the impact of the degree of competition in South African markets on economic outcomes. This paper improves on previous markup estimates for South Africa using a methodology developed by De Loecker and Warzynski (2012) applied to tax administrative data for 2010-14. The paper then explores the firm-level determinants of the estimated markups and assesses the link between competition and firm-level outcomes, including productivity, employment, and wages. The analysis finds that average markups across the economy appear to have risen between 2010 and 2014. Larger firms, higher-intensity exporters, and firms with greater sales shares charge higher markups than comparator firms in South Africa, even after controlling for efficiency. Moreover, lower product market competition has a significant, negative effect on productivity growth, employment growth, and wage growth in South African manufacturing industries. Higher sales-weighted and value-added-weighted average industry-level markups are associated with lower industry-level entry rates. The findings highlight the importance of implementing sound pro-competition government interventions and the significant economic benefits associated with such policies.

Competition Policy --- Job Creation --- Labor Markets --- Market Competition --- Private Sector Development --- Private Sector Economics --- Productivity --- Social Protections and Labor --- Wage Growth --- Wages, Compensation and Benefits

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The predictions of different classic migration theories are tested by using incentivized laboratory experiments to investigate how potential migrants decide between working in different destinations. First, the authors test theories of income maximization, migrant skill-selection, and multi-destination choice as they vary migration costs, liquidity constraints, risk, social benefits, and incomplete information. The standard income maximization model of migration with selection on observed and unobserved skills leads to a much higher migration rate and more negative skill-selection than is obtained when migration decisions take place under more realistic assumptions. Second, these lab experiments are used to investigate whether the independence of irrelevant alternatives assumption holds. The results show that it holds for most people when decisions just involve wages, costs, and liquidity constraints. However, once the risk of unemployment and incomplete information is added, independence of irrelevant alternatives no longer holds for about 20 percent of the sample.

Destination Choice --- Employment and Unemployment --- International Economics and Trade --- International Migration --- Lab Experiment --- Migrant Selection --- Poverty Reduction --- Social Protections and Labor --- Wages, Compensation and Benefits

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Rural economies are in transition around the world; in many countries, improved technology and linkages across sectors have expanded access to markets and accelerated production for some farmers. At the same time, rural areas globally are facing a growing base of landless and smallholder farmers, out-migration to urban areas, and persistence of low-skilled, informal, and seasonal jobs where women are often heavily concentrated. Recent global initiatives are examining programs that can effectively raise rural incomes, including how addressing shortfalls in wome's hours worked and earnings can raise rural productivity and growth. But well-designed policies to address these issues require improved counting of individuals' employment, accounting for the complexity of measuring rural women's labor force participation, as well as data on social, economic, and institutional constraints that women face in seeking better economic opportunities. Using recent rounds of the Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, and Uganda Living Standards and Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture, as well as findings from recent country pilots conducted by the International Labour Organization, this paper discusses best practices and issues to consider when examining rural women's employment in socioeconomic surveys, as well as a survey research agenda to improve measurement.

Agriculture --- Employment --- Employment and Unemployment --- Food Security --- Gender --- Gender and Development --- Household Surveys --- Labor Underutilization --- Social Protections and Labor --- Unpaid Work --- Wages, Compensation and Benefits