You're Paid What You're Worth and other myths of the Modern Economy by Jakes Rosenfeld

ISBN: 9780674295483

Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2021

Paperback, 364 pages

What makes a lawyer more valuable than a teacher? How do you measure the output of a police officer, a professor, or a reporter? Why, in the past few decades, did CEOs suddenly become hundreds of times more valuable than their employees? The answers lie not in objective criteria but in battles over interests and ideals. Four dynamics are paramount: power, inertia, mimicry, and demands for equity. Power struggles legitimize pay for particular jobs, and organizational inertia makes that pay seem natural. Mimicry encourages employers to do what their peers are doing. And workers are on the lookout for practices that seem unfair. Jake Rosenfeld shows us how these dynamics play out in real-world settings, drawing on cutting-edge economics and original survey data, with an eye for compelling stories and revealing details.You’re Paid What You’re Worth gets to the heart of that most basic of social questions: Who gets what and why?