Description
Book SynopsisSetting wages isn’t an exact science, but we like to think that our workplace performance provides an objective basis for pay.
You’re Paid What You’re Worth offers a bold theory to the contrary, arguing that pay is decided in contests over interests and ideals—that social conflicts, not economic metrics, determine who gets how much.
Trade ReviewThis is the book to throw at your human resources director—not literally, of course—when any attempt is being made to bamboozle you about how decisions on pay have been made. It is all here: the economics, psychology, sociology and (crucially) mythology that underpin wages and how they are set. It is a closely argued, thoroughly researched treatise on how we got here and how pay could be both fairer and more effective as a reward. -- Stefan Stern * Financial World *
Rosenfeld makes an important contribution to the literature on the determinants of workers’ pay in the United States—and, in doing so, also contributes to debates over the causes of rising pay inequality over the last 50 years in the United States. -- Joe LaBriola * American Journal of Sociology *
Suitable for all audiences. Undergraduates will appreciate the clarity of prose, absence of jargon, and liberal use of examples. More advanced scholars of work…[will] appreciate Rosenfeld’s extraordinary ability to bring together multiple threads from the literature into a coherent, sweeping argument about the sources of pay inequality and inequity in contemporary labor markets. -- Kim Weeden * Social Forces *
A stimulating reading for social scientists. -- Antonio Abatemarco * Journal of Economics *
Rosenfeld outlines many of the injustices that underpin the American economy…Offers a series of sensible reforms that would help tweak the balance in favor of employees. -- Andrew Leigh * Inside Story *
Rosenfeld debunks contemporary myths about work and wages in this illuminating account. * Publishers Weekly *
You’re Paid What You’re Worth is a lively and rigorous study that will change debates over labor markets. Rosenfeld’s original research serves as a very important rejoinder to old ideas in economics and to conventional wisdom in the mass public. -- Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, Columbia University
Rosenfeld’s book provides a rich sociological theory of the labor market, showing why and how wages are largely set by norms, organizational practices, and institutions. -- Suresh Naidu, Columbia University
A flat-out revelation of a book by one of the nation’s top scholars of the labor market,
You’re Paid What You’re Worth is required reading for anyone who cares about the future of work in America. With concise prose informed by history and cutting-edge research, Rosenfeld dispels one myth after another about how the modern economy works and champions thoughtful solutions for how American prosperity can once more lead to broad social uplift. -- Matthew Desmond, author of
Poverty, by AmericaThe growth in earnings inequality requires us to understand what determines pay in the economy. Jake Rosenfeld’s book provides nuanced and bold insight into the question of ‘who gets what and why?’ He challenges widely held assumptions and approaches in this area by probing the impact of fairness norms, organizational inertia and mimicry, and most importantly power in determining pay. In so doing, he provides novel and provocative perspectives on policies to address this pressing problem. -- David Weil, Dean, The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University
Jake Rosenfeld pulls back the curtain on the multifaceted cultural, institutional, and market forces at play in wage-setting. This timely book illuminates the power dynamics and often arbitrary forces that have contributed to the egregious inequality in the US labor market—and then lays out a clear blueprint for progressive change. -- Thea Lee, President of the Economic Policy Institute
