The Insider-Outsider Theory - Some Evidence from Australia

This paper uses Australian micro-data to test the insider-outsider model. As part of this, the paper also examines whether the distinction between insiders and outsiders has more relevance for males or females. Provisional support for the theory is found. The paper finds that males have more insider power than females. It is argued that this represents an indirect test in support of Lindbeck and Snowers’s (1988) turnover cost version of the theory. The paper pays particular attention to specification and estimation problems associated with the research.