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Articles 1 - 21 of 21
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Unobserved Heterogeneity And Labor Market Discrimination, Miguel Sarzosa
Unobserved Heterogeneity And Labor Market Discrimination, Miguel Sarzosa
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
Sexual minorities have historically been subject to many kinds of discrimination. Prejudicial treatment in the labor market could arguably be one of them. Despite that, economic literature has remained mostly silent on the topic. This paper fills that void by leveraging on a novel longitudinal data set that collects detailed information on sexual orientation. I develop an empirical strategy that exploits the fact that sexuality is not a dichotomous trait but rather a wide assortment of sexual preferences. I use empirical models that rely on the identification of unobserved heterogeneity, in the forms of skills and sexual orientation, to allow …
Dissecting The Impact Of Import Competition On U.S. Earnings Inequality, Felipe Benguria
Dissecting The Impact Of Import Competition On U.S. Earnings Inequality, Felipe Benguria
Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise Working Papers
This paper studies the impact of globalization on U.S. earnings inequality in the context of rapidly growing import competition from China. The increase in U.S. inequality during 2000-2007 has been driven entirely by changes within regions}. While the existing literature has established differences in wage growth across regions as a consequence of import competition, understanding the impact of globalization on rising U.S. inequality requires then focusing on its impact on inequality within regions. Exploiting variation in exposure to this unprecedented trade shock across local labor markets I find that import competition causes an increase in earnings inequality. This impact occurs …
Memorandum: Data Needs For Research On Domestic Outsourcing In The United States, Susan N. Houseman, Annette Bernhardt
Memorandum: Data Needs For Research On Domestic Outsourcing In The United States, Susan N. Houseman, Annette Bernhardt
All Staff Papers and Presentations
Available evidence points to substantial growth in U.S. firms’ outsourcing of various functions to domestic as well as foreign suppliers, a phenomenon sometimes called the vertical disintegration of the firm. Although receiving less attention than its offshore counterpart, domestic outsourcing is changing how work in the U.S. is organized across firms and industries. Good data allowing documentation of such supply networks is critical to the accuracy of many analyses, including employment impact analyses of a wide range of federal, state, and local economic policies; occupational workforce projections; and sector and industry productivity statistics. Moreover, although there are many reasons why …
Domestic Outsourcing In The United States: A Research Agenda To Assess Trends And Effects On Job Quality, Annette Bernhardt, Rosemary L. Batt, Susan Houseman, Eileen Appelbaum
Domestic Outsourcing In The United States: A Research Agenda To Assess Trends And Effects On Job Quality, Annette Bernhardt, Rosemary L. Batt, Susan Houseman, Eileen Appelbaum
Susan N. Houseman
The goal of this paper is to develop a comprehensive research agenda to analyze trends in domestic outsourcing in the United States—firms’ use of contractors and independent contractors—and its effects on job quality and inequality. In the process, we review definitions of outsourcing, the available scant empirical research, and limitations of existing data sources. We also summarize theories that attempt to explain why firms contract out for certain functions and assess their predictions about likely impacts on job quality. We then lay out in detail a major research initiative on domestic outsourcing, discussing the questions it should answer and providing …
Domestic Outsourcing In The United States: A Research Agenda To Assess Trends And Effects On Job Quality, Annette Bernhardt, Rosemary L. Batt, Susan N. Houseman, Eileen Appelbaum
Domestic Outsourcing In The United States: A Research Agenda To Assess Trends And Effects On Job Quality, Annette Bernhardt, Rosemary L. Batt, Susan N. Houseman, Eileen Appelbaum
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
The goal of this paper is to develop a comprehensive research agenda to analyze trends in domestic outsourcing in the United States—firms’ use of contractors and independent contractors—and its effects on job quality and inequality. In the process, we review definitions of outsourcing, the available scant empirical research, and limitations of existing data sources. We also summarize theories that attempt to explain why firms contract out for certain functions and assess their predictions about likely impacts on job quality. We then lay out in detail a major research initiative on domestic outsourcing, discussing the questions it should answer and providing …
Earnings Inequality In Germany, Katharine G. Abraham, Susan N. Houseman
Earnings Inequality In Germany, Katharine G. Abraham, Susan N. Houseman
Susan N. Houseman
Recent studies have documented the growth of earnings inequality in the United States during the 1980s. In contrast to these studies' findings, our analysis of micro data for the former West Germany yields virtually no evidence of growth in earnings inequality over the same period. Between 1978 and 1988, a reduction in the dispersion of earnings among workers in the bottom half of the earnings distribution led to a narrowing of the overall dispersion of earnings in Germany. Earnings differentials across education and age groups remained roughly stable, and there was no general widening of earnings differentials within either education …
Revenue Sharing And Within-Team Payroll Inequality In Major League Baseball, Nicholas A. Jolly
Revenue Sharing And Within-Team Payroll Inequality In Major League Baseball, Nicholas A. Jolly
Economics Faculty Research and Publications
Using data from the 2000 to 2012 Major League Baseball seasons, this article investigates how changes to revenue sharing in the 2007 collective bargaining agreement altered within-team payroll inequality. Results indicate that inequality within teams decreased after the 2007 bargaining agreement. This reduced inequity is concentrated among those teams that were already experiencing relatively higher levels of inequality. This indicates that changes to revenue sharing should help increase competitive balance within the league. Additionally, the reduction in inequality occurs only among hitters and not pitchers. These results highlight how collective bargaining can have heterogeneous effects on groups of workers despite …
Employment And Distribution Effects Of The Minimum Wage , Fabián Slonimczyk, Peter Skott
Employment And Distribution Effects Of The Minimum Wage , Fabián Slonimczyk, Peter Skott
Economics Department Working Paper Series
This paper analyzes the effects of the minimum wage on wage inequality, relative employment and over-education. We show that over-education can be generated endogenously and that an increase in the minimum wage can raise both total and low-skill employment, and produce a fall in inequality. Evidence from the US suggests that these theoretical results are empirically relevant. The over-education rate has been increasing and our regression analysis suggests that the decrease in the minimum wage may have led to a deterioration of the employment and relative wage of low-skill workers.
Heterodox Macro After The Crisis, Peter Skott
Heterodox Macro After The Crisis, Peter Skott
Economics Department Working Paper Series
Macroeconomics is in crisis and this creates openings for alternative perspectives. The dominant heterodox traditions, however, have shortcomings that need to be addressed, both to improve our understanding of the real world and to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the irrelevance of most mainstream macro. This paper discusses three examples of areas that need attention: (i) investment functions (where popular specifications lack behavioral and empirical support), (ii) income distribution (where key developments have received little attention) and(iii) the relation between income inequality and financial markets (where extensions of existing models may help explain financial instability)
Increasing Inequality And Financial Instability, Peter Skott
Increasing Inequality And Financial Instability, Peter Skott
Economics Department Working Paper Series
Rising inequality affects the composition of asset demands as well as aggregate demand. The poor have few financial assets and their portfolio is skewed towards fixed-income assets. The rich, by contrast, hold a large proportion of their wealth in stocks. Thus, an increase in inequality tends to raise the demand for stocks. This generates capital gains, and these gains can fuel a bubble, as desired portfolios shift further towards stocks.
Employment And Distribution Effects Of The Minimum Wage, Fabian Slonimczyk, Peter Skott
Employment And Distribution Effects Of The Minimum Wage, Fabian Slonimczyk, Peter Skott
Economics Department Working Paper Series
This paper analyzes the effects of the minimum wage on wage inequality, relative employment and over-education. Using an effciency wage model we show that over-education can be generated endogenously and that an increase in the minimum wage can raise both total and low-skill employment, and produce a fall in inequality. Evidence from the US suggests that these theoretical results are empirically relevant. The over-education rate has been increasing and our regression analysis suggests that the decrease in the minimum wage may have led to a deterioration of the employment and relative wage of low-skill workers.
Skill Mismatch And Wage Inequality In The U.S., Fabian Slonimczyk
Skill Mismatch And Wage Inequality In The U.S., Fabian Slonimczyk
Open Access Dissertations
This dissertation is an empirical investigation into the distributive effects of overand under-education, defined as market outcomes such that some workers possess skills over or below those required at their jobs respectively. This type of market failure can arise in assignment and search equilibrium settings, as well as in the presence of asymmetric information regarding workers' performance on the job. The existence of permanent and sizable mismatch rates means that returns to education are depressed for over-educated workers and in ated for under-qualified workers. Thus, irreversible decisions to invest in human capital are made in a context of uncertainty regarding …
Building Equitable Communities: A New Role For City Hall, Kiran Cunningham, Hannah J. Mckinney
Building Equitable Communities: A New Role For City Hall, Kiran Cunningham, Hannah J. Mckinney
Employment Research Newsletter
No abstract provided.
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
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
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
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
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 …
Poverty And Inequality: The Political Economy Of Redistribution, Jon Neill Editor
Poverty And Inequality: The Political Economy Of Redistribution, Jon Neill Editor
Upjohn Press
Despite the nation's significant and prolonged economic growth during the 1990s, the portion of aggregate income going to the poorest 20 percent of the population declined, while that of the richest 20 percent grew. The contributors to this volume examine the extent and reasons behind this distribution.
Earnings Inequality In Germany, Katharine G. Abraham, Susan N. Houseman
Earnings Inequality In Germany, Katharine G. Abraham, Susan N. Houseman
Upjohn Institute Working Papers
Recent studies have documented the growth of earnings inequality in the United States during the 1980s. In contrast to these studies' findings, our analysis of micro data for the former West Germany yields virtually no evidence of growth in earnings inequality over the same period. Between 1978 and 1988, a reduction in the dispersion of earnings among workers in the bottom half of the earnings distribution led to a narrowing of the overall dispersion of earnings in Germany. Earnings differentials across education and age groups remained roughly stable, and there was no general widening of earnings differentials within either education …
The Economics Of Comparable Worth, Mark R. Killingsworth
The Economics Of Comparable Worth, Mark R. Killingsworth
Upjohn Press
Killingsworth provides a clear statement of the definitional and conceptual issues surrounding comparable worth as well as an examination of its actual and potential effects. He also shows how comparable worth might work in alternative labor market settings and provides evidence of the effects of the comparable worth measures implemented in San Jose, Calif., the State of Minnesota, and Australia.
Two-Tier Compensation Structures: Their Impact On Unions, Employers, And Employees, James Martin, Thomas D. Heetderks Collaborator
Two-Tier Compensation Structures: Their Impact On Unions, Employers, And Employees, James Martin, Thomas D. Heetderks Collaborator
Upjohn Press
Martin conducted a study at a large company where its various wage tier systems allowed assessment of the long-term impact of tiers. Part of this study included the development of a survey designed to explore eight research questions related to tiers and to test five hypotheses of low-tier v. high-tier employees.