TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Danzer, Natalia
        TI  - Job Satisfaction and Self-Selection into the Public or Private Sector: Evidence from a Natural Experiment
        PY  - 2013/Sep/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 7644
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp7644
        AB  - Are public sector jobs better than private sector jobs? To answer this question, this paper investigates observed differences in job satisfaction between public- and private-sector workers and disentangles the effect of worker sorting from the one caused by sector-specific job characteristics. A natural experiment – the massive privatization process in post-Soviet countries – allows correcting potential self-selection bias. Industry-specific privatization probabilities are assigned to workers based on unique individual-level survey information regarding pre-determined Soviet jobs during the 1980s. The results reveal a causal public-sector satisfaction premium and a negative selection of individuals into the public sector. Part of the public-private satisfaction gap can be explained by the different availability of fringe benefits in the two sectors.
        KW  - public sector
KW  - job satisfaction
KW  - self-selection
KW  - quasi-experiment
KW  - privatization
KW  - fringe benefits
        ER  -