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Saumik Paul

Newcastle University, UK, and IZA, Germany

I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to World of Labor. Labor income share is an important topic, and this article makes a timely entry as there is a growing concern over a global decline in the labor income share. I hope that policymakers and academics alike will find this article useful

IZA World of Labor role

Author

Current position

Assistant Professor (Lecturer), Newcastle University London, UK

Research interest

labor income share, structural transformation, and land reform

Website

http://saumikpaulresearch.blogspot.com/

Past positions

Research Economist, Asian Development Bank Institute (2017–2019); Associate Professor, IER, Hitotsubashi University, Japan (2016–2017); Associate & Assistant Professor, University of Nottingham (MC) (2012–2016)

Qualifications

PhD Economics, Claremont Graduate University, USA, 2008

Selected publications

  • Labor Income Share in Asia: Measurement, Drivers and Policy. New York: Springer, Forthcoming (Editor with G. Fields).

  • Labor Income Share: Explaining the Global Decline. London: Palgrave Macmillan, Forthcoming.

  • “The effect of skilled emigration on real exchange rates through the wage channel.” Journal of International Money and Finance 89 (2018): 139–153 (with A. Ouyang).

  • “Displacement, compensation and channels of endurance: An industrialization-led development saga.” Oxford Development Studies 45:3 (2017): 240–259 (with V. Sarma).

  • “Reversal of fortune? The long-term effect of conservation-led displacement in Nepal.” Oxford Development Studies 44:4 (2016): 401–419 (with C. Lam and V. Sarma).

article(s)

  • Understanding the global decline in the labor income share

    Why did labor’s share of income decline among low-skilled workers but increase among the high-skilled?

    Saumik Paul, March 2020
    Globally, the share of income going to labor (the “labor income share”) is declining. However, this aggregate decline hides more than it reveals. While the labor income share has decreased for low-skilled workers, this has been concurrent with an increase for high-skilled workers. Globalization leading to a growing skill premium and an increasing complementarity between capital and skill through the advancement of technology explains the polarization of labor income shares across the skill spectrum.
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