Earnings distribution in Czechoslovakia: Intertemporal change and international comparison

The purpose of this article is to assess the specific features of earnings differentials in Czechoslovakia and their change over time. Various explanatory hypotheses are submitted for understanding personal income distribution under the system of state socialism. Analysis of variance is used to show the influence of gender, age, education, and economic sector on level of reward. In the last 20 years, less educated, older, and ‘productive’ workers and branches of industry were preferred for reasons related to hard-line Stalinism rather than to any reform strategy. In cross-national perspective, demographic factors rather than qualifications or occupational factors are evident. Cross-national evidence from the Luxembourg Income study (LIS) database is used to emphasize specific features of the Czechoslovakian pattern of work rewards.