A counter evidence for the Lazear-Moore findings: an empirical study of incentive part in the wage structure in Japan

Abstract

This paper examines whether there is an incentive in the wage structure of employees compared with the wage structure of self-employed workers using the most comprehensive survey of workers in Japan. While the estimation results of the whole sample of 35 092 indicate that there is an incentive, albeit insignificant, when the analysis is concentrated on petty and small-sized firms, which include most self-employed workers, no significant incentive is found. Therefore, the Lazear-Moore findings may be contaminated by the effect of firm scale.