Volume 37, Number 4 (Fall) 2002
Ballou, Dale, and Michael Podgursky. 2002. "Returns To Seniority Among Public School Teachers." Journal of Human Resources 37(4):892-912.
Returns to seniority account for a substantial share of public K -12 expenditures. Over the first ten to 15 years of a career, public school teachers enjoy average wage growth at least equivalent to that of other white-collar workers. Explanations for this structure in terms of human capital or costly monitoring lack theoretical and empirical support. A steeper wage-tenure profile reduces turnover. but it is doubtful that the costs of turn-over are high enough to make this an optimal use of school resources. We conclude that the structure of teacher pay in public education is more consistent with rent-seeking than efficient contracting.
Dale Ballou is an associate professor of public policy and education at Vanderbilt University. Michael Podgursky is a professor of economics at the University of Missouri-Columbia The authors wish to thank two anonymous referees for their many valuable suggestions. The usual disclaimers apply. The data used in this article can be obtained beginning February 2003 through January 2006 from Dale Ballou, Peabody Box 514, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN 37203-5701.
© 2003 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
US ISSN 0022-166X