Does Salary Discrimination by Nationality Exist? The Case of Nippon Professional Baseball League

This article focuses on the issue of nationality as related to salary discrimination in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league. Salary data for 663 players during the period from 2000 to 2008 was collected, and Quantile Regression (QR) was employed to investigate the nationality discrimination in salary. The main finding indicates that, on average, international players were paid 54.7% - 57.3% more than domestic players ceteris paribus. QR results show that the positive effect of nationality on salary is larger for players with relatively higher salaries. The finding indicates that an international player’s salary premium increases with salary.