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Full-Text Articles in Income Distribution

Adverse Life Events And Intergenerational Transfers, Jessamyn Schaller, Chase Eck Oct 2019

Adverse Life Events And Intergenerational Transfers, Jessamyn Schaller, Chase Eck

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

While there has been broad interest in the direct effects of major life events on older households that experience them, little attention has been paid to the intergenerational transmission of those effects— how negative shocks in parents’ households affect the outcomes of their adult children—or to the role that grown children play in helping their parents recover from adverse events. We use regression and event study approaches to examine within-family changes in monetary transfers and informal care following wealth loss, involuntary job displacement, spousal death, and health shocks in retirement-aged households. We find that giving to adult children is responsive …


Putting Short-Time Compensation To Work: How Employers Can Avert Layoffs And Reduce Training Costs, David E. Balducchi, Stephen A. Wandner Oct 2016

Putting Short-Time Compensation To Work: How Employers Can Avert Layoffs And Reduce Training Costs, David E. Balducchi, Stephen A. Wandner

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.


The Effects Of Increasing The Minimum Wage On Prices: Analyzing The Incidence Of Policy Design And Context, Daniel Macdonald, Eric Nilsson Jun 2016

The Effects Of Increasing The Minimum Wage On Prices: Analyzing The Incidence Of Policy Design And Context, Daniel Macdonald, Eric Nilsson

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

We analyze the price pass-through effect of the minimum wage and use the results to provide insight into the competitive structure of low-wage labor markets. Using monthly price series, we find that the pass-through effect is entirely concentrated on the month that the minimum wage change goes into effect, and is much smaller than what the canonical literature has found. We then discuss why our results differ from that literature, noting the impact of series interpolation in generating most of the previous results. We then use the variation in the size of the minimum wage change to evaluate the competitive …


Wage Insurance As A Policy Option In The United States, Stephen A. Wandner Jan 2016

Wage Insurance As A Policy Option In The United States, Stephen A. Wandner

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Wage insurance is a program that attempts to help permanently displaced workers transition to employment rapidly, effectively, and equitably. Because displaced workers have been found to suffer substantial earnings losses when they become reemployed, a wage insurance program provides a temporary wage supplement that partially reduces the wage loss experienced by targeted, newly reemployed workers. While participating workers receive a “wage supplement,” the program is called “wage insurance” because of its design as a social insurance program rather than an income transfer program. This paper provides a discussion of the development of wage insurance as a policy option in the …


Domestic Outsourcing Reduces Wages And Contributes To Rising Inequality, Johannes Schmieder, Deborah Goldschmidt Jan 2016

Domestic Outsourcing Reduces Wages And Contributes To Rising Inequality, Johannes Schmieder, Deborah Goldschmidt

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.


The Rise Of Domestic Outsourcing And The Evolution Of The German Wage Structure, Deborah Goldschmidt, Johannes Schmieder Sep 2015

The Rise Of Domestic Outsourcing And The Evolution Of The German Wage Structure, Deborah Goldschmidt, Johannes Schmieder

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The nature of the relationship between employers and employees has been changing over the last three decades, with firms increasingly relying on contractors, temp agencies, and franchises rather than hiring employees directly. We investigate the impact of this transformation on the wage structure by following jobs that are moved outside of the boundary of lead employers to contracting firms. For this end we develop a new method for identifying outsourcing of food, cleaning, security, and logistics services in administrative data using the universe of social security records in Germany. We document a dramatic growth of domestic outsourcing in Germany since …


The Effect Of The Earned Income Tax Credit In The District Of Columbia On Poverty And Income Dynamics, Bradley L. Hardy, Daniel Muhammad, Rhucha Samudra Jun 2015

The Effect Of The Earned Income Tax Credit In The District Of Columbia On Poverty And Income Dynamics, Bradley L. Hardy, Daniel Muhammad, Rhucha Samudra

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Using unique longitudinal administrative tax panel data for the District of Columbia (DC), we assess the combined effect of the DC supplemental earned income tax credit (EITC) and the federal EITC on poverty and income dynamics within Washington, DC, from 2001 to 2011. The EITC in DC merits investigation, as the DC supplement to the federal credit is the largest in the nation. The supplemental DC EITC was enacted in 2000, and has been expanded from 10 percent of the federal credit in 2001 to 40 percent as of 2009. To implement the study, we estimate least squares models with …


Who Benefits From A Minimum Wage Increase?, John W. Lopresti, Kevin J. Mumford Mar 2015

Who Benefits From A Minimum Wage Increase?, John W. Lopresti, Kevin J. Mumford

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

This paper addresses the question of how a minimum wage increase affects the wages of low-wage workers. Most studies assume that there is a simple mechanical increase in the wage for workers earning a wage between the old and the new minimum wage, with some studies allowing for spillovers to workers with wages just above this range. Rather than assume that the wages of these workers would have remained constant, this paper estimates how a minimum wage increase impacts a low-wage worker’s wage relative to the wage the worker would have if there had been no minimum wage increase. The …


Effects Of The Minimum Wage On Employment Dynamics, Jonathan Meer, Jeremy West Jan 2015

Effects Of The Minimum Wage On Employment Dynamics, Jonathan Meer, Jeremy West

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The voluminous literature on minimum wages offers little consensus on the extent to which a wage floor impacts employment. We argue that the minimum wage will impact employment over time, through changes in growth rather than an immediate drop in relative employment levels. We conduct simulations showing that commonly-used specifications in this literature, especially those that include state-specific time trends, will not accurately capture these effects. Using three separate state panels of administrative employment data, we find that the minimum wage reduces job growth over a period of several years. These effects are most pronounced for younger workers and in …


The New Minimum Wage Research, Dale Belman, Paul J. Wolfson Apr 2014

The New Minimum Wage Research, Dale Belman, Paul J. Wolfson

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.


What Does The Minimum Wage Do?, Dale Belman, Paul J. Wolfson Jan 2014

What Does The Minimum Wage Do?, Dale Belman, Paul J. Wolfson

Upjohn Press

This book attempts to make sense of the research on the minimum wage that began in the early 1990s. The authors look at who is affected by the minimum wage, both directly and indirectly; which observable, measurable variables (e.g., wages, employment, school enrollment) the minimum wage influences; how long it takes for the variables to respond to the minimum wage and the size and desirability of the effect; why the minimum wage has the results it does (and not others); and the workers most likely to be affected by changes to the minimum wage.


Mothers' Work And Children's Lives: Low-Income Families After Welfare Reform, Rucker C. Johnson, Ariel Kalil, Rachel E. Dunifon Feb 2010

Mothers' Work And Children's Lives: Low-Income Families After Welfare Reform, Rucker C. Johnson, Ariel Kalil, Rachel E. Dunifon

Upjohn Press

This book examines the effects of work requirements imposed by welfare reform on low-income women and their families. The authors pay particular attention to the nature of work—whether it is stable or unstable, the number of hours worked in a week and the regularity and flexibility of work schedules. They also show how these factors make it more difficult for low-income women to balance their work and family requirements.


Strategies For Improving Economic Mobility Of Workers: Bridging Research And Practice, Maude Toussaint-Comeau Editor, Bruce D. Meyer Editor Aug 2009

Strategies For Improving Economic Mobility Of Workers: Bridging Research And Practice, Maude Toussaint-Comeau Editor, Bruce D. Meyer Editor

Upjohn Press

The contributors to this book provide a provocative assessment of the effectiveness of various policies and practices designed to help disadvantaged segments of our population overcome the obstacles in their path to upward economic mobility.


Income Volatility And Food Assistance In The United States, Dean Jolliffe Editor, James P. Ziliak Editor Oct 2008

Income Volatility And Food Assistance In The United States, Dean Jolliffe Editor, James P. Ziliak Editor

Upjohn Press

This book provides a much-needed look at recent trends in income volatility and its effects on the design of and participation in the nation's food assistance programs.


Strategies For Improving Economic Mobility Of Workers, Maude Toussaint-Comeau Oct 2008

Strategies For Improving Economic Mobility Of Workers, Maude Toussaint-Comeau

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.


Building Equitable Communities: A New Role For City Hall, Kiran Cunningham, Hannah J. Mckinney Jul 2008

Building Equitable Communities: A New Role For City Hall, Kiran Cunningham, Hannah J. Mckinney

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.


Michigan Socioeconomic Conditions And Trends: West Michigan Compared To East Michigan, Brad R. Watts May 2007

Michigan Socioeconomic Conditions And Trends: West Michigan Compared To East Michigan, Brad R. Watts

Reports

No abstract provided.


The Geography Of American Poverty: Is There A Need For Place-Based Policies?, Mark D. Partridge, Dan S. Rickman Sep 2006

The Geography Of American Poverty: Is There A Need For Place-Based Policies?, Mark D. Partridge, Dan S. Rickman

Upjohn Press

Partridge and Rickman explore the wide geographic disparities in poverty across the United States. Their focus on the spatial dimensions of U.S. poverty reveals distinct differences across states, metropolitan areas, and counties and leads them to consider why antipoverty policies have succeeded in some places and failed in others.


The Effect Of Minimum Wages On The Employment And Earnings Of South Africa's Domestic Service Workers, Tom Hertz Aug 2005

The Effect Of Minimum Wages On The Employment And Earnings Of South Africa's Domestic Service Workers, Tom Hertz

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

Minimum wages have been in place for South Africa's one million domestic service workers since November of 2002. Using data from seven waves of the Labour Force Survey, this paper documents that the real wages, average monthly earnings, and total earnings of all employed domestic workers have risen since the regulations came into effect, while hours of work per week and employment have fallen. Each of these outcomes can be linked econometrically to the arrival of the minimum wage regulations. The overall estimated elasticities suggest that the regulations should have reduced poverty somewhat for domestic workers, although this last conclusion …


Leaving Welfare: Employment And Well-Being Of Families That Left Welfare In The Post-Entitlement Era, Gregory Acs, Pamela Loprest Jan 2004

Leaving Welfare: Employment And Well-Being Of Families That Left Welfare In The Post-Entitlement Era, Gregory Acs, Pamela Loprest

Upjohn Press

Acs and Loprest pull together information from a host of leaver studies to provide a bottom line assessment of what was learned. They compare welfare leaver outcomes across geographic areas and the nation as a whole. This effort allows them to paint a comprehensive picture of the employment, income, and hardships families experience after leaving welfare.


Helping Working Families: The Earned Income Tax Credit, Saul D. Hoffman, Laurence S. Seidman Jan 2003

Helping Working Families: The Earned Income Tax Credit, Saul D. Hoffman, Laurence S. Seidman

Upjohn Press

Hoffman and Seidman offer a thorough assessment of the EITC in which they analyze, evaluate, summarize, and critique the state of the program. They find that, overall, the EITC works well, and that it has earned its political popularity. Yet they also uncover several problem areas that they address with specific recommendations based on their analysis.


Living Wages And Local Governments, Timothy J. Bartik Apr 2002

Living Wages And Local Governments, Timothy J. Bartik

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.


Thinking About Local Living Wage Requirements, Timothy J. Bartik Mar 2002

Thinking About Local Living Wage Requirements, Timothy J. Bartik

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

This paper reviews what we currently know about the benefits and costs of different varieties of a "living wage": a local government requirement, now adopted by over 50 local governments, for wages above the federal minimum imposed on employers with some financial link to the local government. The review includes economic theory, empirical research on local labor markets, and empirical research on the living wage. The paper concludes that moderate living wage requirements applied to the local government's own employees, and contractors' and grantees' employees who are funded by the local government, may do more good than harm. Excessive living …


Rural Dimensions Of Welfare Reform, Bruce A. Weber Editor, Greg J. Duncan Editor, Leslie A. Whitener Editor Jan 2002

Rural Dimensions Of Welfare Reform, Bruce A. Weber Editor, Greg J. Duncan Editor, Leslie A. Whitener Editor

Upjohn Press

This volume presents a comprehensive look at how welfare reforms enacted in 1996 are affecting caseloads, employment, earnings, and family well-being in rural areas.


Working Time In Comparative Perspective: Volume I - Patterns, Trends, And The Policy Implications Of Earnings Inequality And Unemployment, Ging Wong, Editor, W. G. Picot, Editor Jan 2001

Working Time In Comparative Perspective: Volume I - Patterns, Trends, And The Policy Implications Of Earnings Inequality And Unemployment, Ging Wong, Editor, W. G. Picot, Editor

Upjohn Press

The chapters in this volume focus on weekly hours worked by individuals, including the recent changes in the distribution of weekly working time in Canada and the United States, the implications of the changing distribution of hours worked for earnings inequality, and efforts to reduce unemployment through mandated hours reductions.


Rising Wage Inequality In Urban Labor Markets, Thomas Hyclak Jul 2000

Rising Wage Inequality In Urban Labor Markets, Thomas Hyclak

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.


Changes In Income Inequality Within U.S. Metropolitan Areas, Janice Fanning Madden Jan 2000

Changes In Income Inequality Within U.S. Metropolitan Areas, Janice Fanning Madden

Upjohn Press

In studying MSA data that link the characteristics of metropolitan economies to significant changes in income inequality, Madden is able to study changes in poverty rates, household income inequality, and wage inequality within 182 of the largest MSAs and to identify what she says are the three factors most likely to influence changes in income inequality in metropolitan areas.


Rising Wage Inequality: The 1980s Experience In Urban Labor Markets, Thomas Hyclak Jan 2000

Rising Wage Inequality: The 1980s Experience In Urban Labor Markets, Thomas Hyclak

Upjohn Press

Hyclak analyzes information not utilized in previous studies of wage inequality. Whereas researchers previously relied on data derived from the national labor market, Hyclak draws on data from the Area Wage Surveys (AWS), which allows him to focus on changes in the wage structure in a sample of 20 local labor markets for the period of 1974 to 1991. This source also allows him to examine changes in the structure of wages paid for some 40 different jobs found in four different occupational groups. In addition, Hyclak is able to concentrate on jobs and the skills required as the primary …


Economic Conditions And Welfare Reform, Sheldon Danziger Editor Jan 1999

Economic Conditions And Welfare Reform, Sheldon Danziger Editor

Upjohn Press

The relationship between welfare caseloads and the economy is one of the key issues addressed in this book. Using the most current data available, a group of the nation's leading researchers examines the effects of welfare reform prior to and after enactment of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA).


Lessons For Welfare Reform: An Analysis Of The Afdc Caseload And Past Welfare-To-Work Programs, David M. O'Neill, June O'Neill Jan 1997

Lessons For Welfare Reform: An Analysis Of The Afdc Caseload And Past Welfare-To-Work Programs, David M. O'Neill, June O'Neill

Upjohn Press

The authors have compiled and analyzed data that identifies historical trends in the AFDC caseload, the personal characteristics of recipients, and broad patterns of welfare participation. They also offer an evaluative survey on the effectiveness of past education, training and workfare programs in reducing the AFDC caseload.