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This paper draws upon influence function regression methods to determine where foreign workers stand in the distribution of private sector wages in Luxembourg, and assess whether and how much their wages contribute to wage inequality. This is quantified by measuring the effect that a marginal increase in the proportion of foreign workers—foreign residents or cross-border workers—would have on selected quantiles and measures of inequality. Analysis of the 2006 Structure of Earnings Survey reveals that foreign workers have generally lower wages than natives and therefore tend to haul the overall wage distribution downwards. Yet, their influence on wage inequality reveals small and negative. All impacts are further muted when accounting for human capital and, especially, job characteristics. Not observing any large positive inequality contribution on the Luxembourg labour market is a striking result given the sheer size of the foreign workforce and its polarization at both ends of the skill distribution.

This paper draws upon influence function regression methods to determine where foreign workers stand in the distribution of private sector wages in Luxembourg, and assess whether and how much their wages contribute to wage inequality. This is quantified by measuring the effect that a marginal increase in the proportion of foreign workers—foreign residents or cross-border workers—would have on selected quantiles and measures of inequality. Analysis of the 2006 Structure of Earnings Survey reveals that foreign workers have generally lower wages than natives and therefore tend to haul the overall wage distribution downwards. Yet, their influence on wage inequality reveals small and negative. All impacts are further muted when accounting for human capital and, especially, job characteristics. Not observing any large positive inequality contribution on the Luxembourg labour market is a striking result given the sheer size of the foreign workforce and its polarization at both ends of the skill distribution.

The paper develops a parametric variant of the Machado–Mata simulation methodology to examine quantile wage differences between groups of workers, with an application to the wage gap between native and foreign workers in Luxembourg. Relying on conditional-likelihood-based ‘parametric quantile regression’ in place of the standard linear quantile regression is parsimonious and cuts computing time drastically with no loss in the accuracy of marginal quantile simulations in our application. We find that the native worker advantage is a concave function of quantile: the advantage is small (possibly negative) for both low and high quantiles, but it is large for the middle half of the quantile range (between the 20th and 70th native wage percentiles).

The paper develops a parametric variant of the Machado–Mata simulation methodology to examine quantile wage differences between groups of workers, with an application to the wage gap between native and foreign workers in Luxembourg. Relying on conditional-likelihood-based ‘parametric quantile regression’ in place of the standard linear quantile regression is parsimonious and cuts computing time drastically with no loss in the accuracy of marginal quantile simulations in our application. We find that the native worker advantage is a concave function of quantile: the advantage is small (possibly negative) for both low and high quantiles, but it is large for the middle half of the quantile range (between the 20th and 70th native wage percentiles).

The paper develops a parametric variant of the Machado–Mata simulation methodology to examine quantile wage differences between groups of workers, with an application to the wage gap between native and foreign workers in Luxembourg. Relying on conditional-likelihood-based ‘parametric quantile regression’ in place of the standard linear quantile regression is parsimonious and cuts computing time drastically with no loss in the accuracy of marginal quantile simulations in our application. We find that the native worker advantage is a concave function of quantile: the advantage is small (possibly negative) for both low and high quantiles, but it is large for the middle half of the quantile range (between the 20th and 70th native wage percentiles).

The paper develops a parametric variant of the Machado–Mata simulation methodology to examine quantile wage differences between groups of workers, with an application to the wage gap between native and foreign workers in Luxembourg. Relying on conditional-likelihood-based ‘parametric quantile regression’ in place of the standard linear quantile regression is parsimonious and cuts computing time drastically with no loss in the accuracy of marginal quantile simulations in our application. We find that the native worker advantage is a concave function of quantile: the advantage is small (possibly negative) for both low and high quantiles, but it is large for the middle half of the quantile range (between the 20th and 70th native wage percentiles).

The paper develops a parametric variant of the Machado–Mata simulation methodology to examine quantile wage differences between groups of workers, with an application to the wage gap between native and foreign workers in Luxembourg. Relying on conditional-likelihood-based ‘parametric quantile regression’ in place of the standard linear quantile regression is parsimonious and cuts computing time drastically with no loss in the accuracy of marginal quantile simulations in our application. We find that the native worker advantage is a concave function of quantile: the advantage is small (possibly negative) for both low and high quantiles, but it is large for the middle half of the quantile range (between the 20th and 70th native wage percentiles).

My dissertation offers three empirical studies of the outcomes following public policy changes designed to reduce the impact of discrimination. The first two chapters focus on the migration of black South Africans soon after the notorious apartheid policies of the South African government were eliminated in the early 1990s. The last chapter of my thesis touches another anti-discrimination policy, the American with Disabilities Act of 1990.Chapter 1 investigates the impact of internal migration on the human capital redistribution within South Africa. As apartheid was being dismantled, new opportunities for movement opened up to black workers, leading to a surge in internal migration. The empirical analysis shows that individuals prefer localities with higher expected log wages regardless of their educations and skills. Second, over the study period, brain drain arose among blacks within South Africa: the share of people with high school education rose in areas that had originally had more people with high school educations.Chapter 2 studies the impact of family migration on women's employment status in South Africa as apartheid was being dismantled. Black women in migrating households with both spouses were more likely to be unemployed than in nonmigrant households. Moreover, the initial negative relationship between migration and employment in a new area for white spouses of migrants was eliminated within 2 years, while black spouses of migrants experienced higher levels of unemployment relative to nonmigrants over a more extended period.Chapter 3 examines the changes in the Oaxaca decomposition measures of labor market discrimination for individuals with disabilities before and after the passage of the ADA. The results indicate that the employment and wage gaps between the disabled and the non-disabled have risen sharply over time, both before and after the passage of the ADA. Most of the rise prior to the ADA was attributable to a rise in differences that cannot b