Sep 21, 2015 03:57
8 yrs ago
2 viewers *
Spanish term

promedio en promedio

Spanish to English Bus/Financial Economics minimum wage
I can't tell if this is really an expression in economics or a failed attempt to replace "en promedio" with "promedio" (or vice versa). It's hard to search for the phrase because many irrelevant hits come up with punctuation in between.

Un trabajo más reciente fue desarrollado por Alaniz y coautores (2011) para Nicaragua, país caracterizado por tener un salario relativamente alto en comparación con el salario promedio (relación de 0.53 del salario mínimo con el salario **promedio en promedio** para 1998 y 2006) y con la mediana de los salarios (relación de 0.81).

Discussion

Muriel Vasconcellos (asker) Sep 24, 2015:
Thank you, everyone! I still can't get my head around this. I'm going to go back and read the Alaniz article. I'm closing the question for now, and I'll reopen it once I think I understand what everyone is saying.
Muriel Vasconcellos (asker) Sep 23, 2015:
P.S. Let me know if you need more context.
Muriel Vasconcellos (asker) Sep 23, 2015:
Thank you, everyone! I really appreciate that you've spent so much time on this conundrum. I'm going to have to read Alaniz myself and try to figure out what you are saying. At this point, I'm more confused than when I posted the question!

Proposed translations

+2
2 hrs
Selected

[ratio of] mean [minimum wage to] mean [wage of 0.53]

I think my first attempt at this was over-elaborate. I'm replacing it with this.

What's happening here is that they're trying to express what Alaniz et al. actually said in their article, which is as follows:

"We find that the minimum wage is high relative to the mean and median wages of private sector workers during the period that we study. The ratio of the mean minimum wage to the mean wage is 0.53 and the ratio to the median wage is 0.81."
http://ftp.iza.org/dp5702.pdf (p. 6)

What Alaniz et al. did was to collect data on real earnings in a sample of Nicaraguan households based on interviews conducted between 1998 and 2006, and compare these data with the minimum wages for the relevant sectors in each year (shown in their Table 1). From this they have calculated the ratio in their sample between the mean (average) real wage and the mean (average) minimum wage. The result is 0.53.

So then in "relación de 0.53 del salario mínimo con el salario promedio en promedio", the first "promedio" goes with "salario", meaning "mean wage", and "en promedio" goes with "salario mínimo", meaning "mean minimum wage".

"En promedio" really means "on average"; I think they mean to say that the ratio was 0.53 on average, though they don't make it clear precisely what they think "on average" means (the mean of the annual results?). All in all I think the safest option is to say what the source (Alaniz et al.) says.

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Note added at 2 hrs (2015-09-21 06:51:13 GMT)
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Or you could say "ratio of mean minimum wage to mean wage: 0.53".

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Note added at 2 hrs (2015-09-21 06:54:25 GMT)
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And as I said in my first answer, "para 1998 y 2006" is inaccurate. Alaniz et al's figure is not based on the two years 1998 and 2006 but on the period from 1998 to 2006, with data for each year in that period. I would be inclined to correct this discreetly, by putting "from 1998 to 2006" or "between 1998 and 2006", and add a note to point out the inaccuracy of the Spanish text.

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Note added at 1 day14 hrs (2015-09-22 18:03:09 GMT)
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Further to François' comment, there is no mention anywhere in Alaniz et al. of annual ratios. All the results they report are for the period as a whole, with no annual breakdown. The sole exception is Table A2, where they compare their dataset of real wages (annual figures from FIDEG) with the World Bank LSMS figures, based on a larger sample but only available for 1998 and 2005. (By the way, that must be the source of the confusion about the dates; "para 1998 y 2006" must be based on Alaniz's et al's reference to "the Nicaraguan LSMS survey carried out by the World Bank in 1998 and 2005", but they've garbled this, because the latter is used only as a comparison, not as the basis for the ratios cited.)

The overall ratios quoted are based on taking the ratio for each individual worker surveyed; they had to be, because the minimum wage in Nicaragua was different for each sector: "We assign to each worker in the FIDEG panel data set a minimum wage based on his/her industry of employment." In other words, it would have made no sense at all to take the annual mean of real wages reported and compare it with the annual mean minimum wage, without taking into account which was the relevant minimum wage for each worker surveyed.

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Note added at 9 days (2015-09-30 09:54:26 GMT) Post-grading
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I wasn't being serious :) And thank you for your patience and thoroughness!
Note from asker:
Thanks, Charles. I've had a chance to study the original article now. Once again, I'm grateful for your patience and thoroughness.
P.S. I'm glad you did tackle it!
Peer comment(s):

agree DLyons : The ST inaccurately describes Alaniz et al. But this is what they are trying to say.
12 hrs
Thanks, Donal :) It's certainly not very well written.
agree Daniel Vega : It probably means "the yearly average mean/median minimum wage and mean/median wage, from 1998 to 2006"
1 day 9 hrs
Well, this text is not clearly expressed, but I am sure they were trying to reflect what their source says, which is the "ratio of mean min. wage to mean wage" for the period stated. Thanks, Daniel :)
disagree Francois Boye : No economist can understand your translation. What makes sense in economics is a) to compute a ratio each year of a certain period, and b) to compute the average of this ratio over the said period.//'en promedio' relates to the period [1998-2006].
1 day 9 hrs
Well, I suggest you take this up with Alaniz et el., all professional economists. But really, your objection is nonsense. Their "ratio of the mean minimum wage to the mean wage" for a given period is a perfectly clear and straightforward concept.
agree philgoddard : Can't argue with this.
4 days
Thanks, Phil! This question has caused so much confusion I rather wish I hadn't touched it.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you!"
6 hrs

average of the average

Why is an average of an average usually incorrect? - Math ...
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-1
11 hrs

'The 53% average of the minimum to average wage ratio from 1998 to 2006'

my take

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Note added at 2 days3 hrs (2015-09-23 07:37:42 GMT)
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Extra Response to Charles: It is the annual average wage that is computed on the basis of the wages earned by the selected Nicaraguan households
Peer comment(s):

disagree DLyons : It's not an average of a ratio. It's a ratio of averages (as Charles points out).
3 hrs
Disagree! 'en promedio' relates to the period [1998-2006]// the average is not computed on the basis of people but of years.
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