Clark, Andrew E.; Masclet, David; Villeval, Marie-Claire - Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) - 2006
This paper considers the effect of status or relative income on work effort combining experimental evidence from a gift …-exchange game with ISSP survey data. We find a consistent negative effect of others’ incomes on individual effort in both datasets …. The individual’s rank in the income distribution is a stronger determinant of effort than others’ average income …