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Tony Fang

Memorial University of Newfoundland, and University of Toronto, Canada, and IZA, Germany

This is an innovative project that combines rigor, policy insights, and practical implications and provides solutions to some real-word labor market and public policy issues

IZA World of Labor role

Author

Current position

Stephen Jarislowsky Chair in Cultural and Economic Transformation, Memorial University of Newfoundland; Associate Professor, University of Toronto; and Research Fellow, IZA

Research interest

Compensation and benefits, high performance workplace practices, pension, retirement policy and the aging workforce, education, immigration, and minimum wages, union impact on wages, innovation and firm growth, pay equity and employment equity

Website

https://www.mun.ca/economics/people/tony-fang/

Positions/functions as a policy advisor

Consultant to Statistics Canada, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and to Human Resources and Skill Development Canada, World Bank Advisory Committee on Migration and Development (KNOMAD)

Past positions

Director, Master of International Business Program (Australia, Malaysia, South Africa, China) and Associate Professor, Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University, 2013–2014; Visiting Professor at Harvard University, Department of Economics, National Bureau of Economic Research, and Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania (2012–2013); Associate Professor (Tenured), Human Resources Management, York University, 2009–2012

Qualifications

PhD Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management, University of Toronto

Selected publications

  • “Is compensation actually strategic: The case of profit sharing.” International Journal of Human Resource Management 26:7 (2015): 971–1001 (with R. Long).

  • “The macroeconomic impact of Canadian immigration: An empirical analysis using the FOCUS Model.” British Journal of Industrial Relations 51:1 (2010): 174–195 (with P. Dungan and M. Gunderson).

  • “Do employees profit from profit sharing? Evidence from Canadian panel data.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 65:4 (2012): 899–927 (with R. Long).

  • “Immigration, ethnic wage differentials and performance pay in Canada.” British Journal of Industrial Relations 48:1 (2010): 109–130 (with J. S. Heywood).

  • “The effects of minimum wages on youth employment transitions: 1993–1999.” Canadian Journal of Economics 38:1 (2005): 81–104 (with M. Campolieti and M. Gunderson).

article(s)

  • Profit sharing: Consequences for workers

    Profit sharing, a formal “bonus” program based on firm profitability, can provide strong employee motivation if properly designed

    Tony Fang, January 2016
    Profit sharing can lead to higher productivity and thus to higher firm profitability and employee wages. It may also enhance employment stability by enabling firms to adjust wages during downturns rather than lay off workers. While adoption of profit sharing increases earnings fluctuations, it also increases earnings growth in the longer term. As with any group incentive plan, profit sharing may result in some workers benefiting from the effort of others without themselves exerting greater effort (“free-rider problem”). However, there is evidence that in team-based production workplaces, profit sharing may reduce shirking and thus contribute to productivity growth.
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