Little is known about the costs of crime to victims. We use unique and detailed register data on victimizations and monthly labor market outcomes from the Netherlands and estimate event study designs to assess short- and long-term effects of criminal victimization. Across offenses, both males and females experience significant decreases in earnings (up to −12.9%) and increases in benefit receipt (up to +6%) after victimization. The negative labor market responses are lasting (up to 4 years) and accompanied by shorter-lived responses in health expenditure. Heterogeneity results suggest that most groups of victims, including the noninjured, suffer nontrivial losses.
{"title":"Scaring or Scarring? Labor Market Effects of Criminal Victimization","authors":"Anna Bindler, Nadine Ketel","doi":"10.1086/718515","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/718515","url":null,"abstract":"Little is known about the costs of crime to victims. We use unique and detailed register data on victimizations and monthly labor market outcomes from the Netherlands and estimate event study designs to assess short- and long-term effects of criminal victimization. Across offenses, both males and females experience significant decreases in earnings (up to −12.9%) and increases in benefit receipt (up to +6%) after victimization. The negative labor market responses are lasting (up to 4 years) and accompanied by shorter-lived responses in health expenditure. Heterogeneity results suggest that most groups of victims, including the noninjured, suffer nontrivial losses.","PeriodicalId":48308,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Labor Economics","volume":"40 1","pages":"939 - 970"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2022-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45056295","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
From 1970 to 2000, US worker participation in labor strikes decreased by 90 percent. We show using understudied measures from labor market surveys that strikers also experienced worse outcomes after 1981. Event study evidence using the PSID suggests that strikers enjoyed 5-10 percent wage gains prior to the 1980s, but flat wage changes thereafter. Additional analysis of collective bargaining agreements and person-level data from the SIPP and CPS reinforce the finding that strikes since the 1980s have not been associated with increases in wages, hours, or benefits. These findings are consistent with decreased strike effectiveness, perhaps due to employers’ higher propensity to hire strike replacements, or with more negative selection into “defensive” strikes that do not allow large pay increases.
{"title":"Economic Outcomes of Strikers in an Era of Weak Unions","authors":"Maxim Massenkoff, Nathan Wilmers","doi":"10.1086/722743","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/722743","url":null,"abstract":"From 1970 to 2000, US worker participation in labor strikes decreased by 90 percent. We show using understudied measures from labor market surveys that strikers also experienced worse outcomes after 1981. Event study evidence using the PSID suggests that strikers enjoyed 5-10 percent wage gains prior to the 1980s, but flat wage changes thereafter. Additional analysis of collective bargaining agreements and person-level data from the SIPP and CPS reinforce the finding that strikes since the 1980s have not been associated with increases in wages, hours, or benefits. These findings are consistent with decreased strike effectiveness, perhaps due to employers’ higher propensity to hire strike replacements, or with more negative selection into “defensive” strikes that do not allow large pay increases.","PeriodicalId":48308,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Labor Economics","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2022-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41501730","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Increasing wage inequality is associated with changes in the degree of labor market sorting, i.e. the allocation of workers to firms. To measure sorting, we propose a new method which disentangles the respective contributions of worker and firm heterogeneity to wage inequality. Inspired by sorting theory, we infer firm productivity from estimating firm-level production functions, taking into account that worker ability and firm productivity may interact at the match level. Using German data, we find that highly productive firms display low labor shares, dominate concentrated markets, and pay lower wages than less productive firms. Sorting is positive, but lower than what wage-based measures suggest. It increases over time, driven by new matches between low-productivity firms and low-ability workers. At the top, sorting decreases, reflected in worker transitions away from high-productivity firms that pay relatively low wages. We discuss implications of our findings for the interpretation of increasing wage inequality. Zusammenfassung Wachsende Lohnungleichheit geht mit Veränderungen der Allokation von Arbeitnehmern zu Arbeitgebern im Arbeitsmarkt einher. Dies spiegelt sich auch in einem steigenden Sortierungsgrad des Arbeitsmarkts wider. Wir entwickeln eine neue Methode zur Messung dieses Sortierungsgrades, welche die jeweiligen Beiträge von Arbeitnehmerund Arbeitgeberheterogenität zur Lohnungleichheit entflechtet. Inspiriert von theoretischen Modellen der Arbeitsmarktsortierung leiten wir die Produktivität der arbeitgebenden Unternehmen aus Schätzungen von Produktionsfunktionen auf der Firmenebene ab. Wir berücksichtigen dabei insbesondere, dass die Firmenproduktivität auf der Matchebene mit der Leistungsfähigkeit der einzelnen Arbeitnehmer interagieren könnte. Anhand deutscher Daten beobachten wir, dass hochproduktive Firmen niedrige Lohnquoten aufweisen, in konzentrierten Märkten operieren und geringere Löhne zahlen als weniger produktive Firmen. Der Sortierungsgrad ist positiv aber niedriger als lohnbasierte Maße nahelegen. Er steigt mit der Zeit, getrieben durch neue Matches zwischen relativ unproduktiven Firmen und weniger leistungsfähigen Arbeitnehmern. An der Spitze geht der Sortierungsgrad zurück, was sich darin widerspiegelt, dass Arbeitnehmer die produktivsten Firmen, die relativ geringe Löhne zahlen, verlassen. Wir diskutieren Implikationen unserer Ergebnisse für die Interpretation steigender Lohnungleichheit. JEL J24, J31, J40, J62, J64, L25
{"title":"Firm Productivity, Wages, and Sorting","authors":"B. Lochner, Bastian Schulz","doi":"10.1086/722564","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/722564","url":null,"abstract":"Increasing wage inequality is associated with changes in the degree of labor market sorting, i.e. the allocation of workers to firms. To measure sorting, we propose a new method which disentangles the respective contributions of worker and firm heterogeneity to wage inequality. Inspired by sorting theory, we infer firm productivity from estimating firm-level production functions, taking into account that worker ability and firm productivity may interact at the match level. Using German data, we find that highly productive firms display low labor shares, dominate concentrated markets, and pay lower wages than less productive firms. Sorting is positive, but lower than what wage-based measures suggest. It increases over time, driven by new matches between low-productivity firms and low-ability workers. At the top, sorting decreases, reflected in worker transitions away from high-productivity firms that pay relatively low wages. We discuss implications of our findings for the interpretation of increasing wage inequality. Zusammenfassung Wachsende Lohnungleichheit geht mit Veränderungen der Allokation von Arbeitnehmern zu Arbeitgebern im Arbeitsmarkt einher. Dies spiegelt sich auch in einem steigenden Sortierungsgrad des Arbeitsmarkts wider. Wir entwickeln eine neue Methode zur Messung dieses Sortierungsgrades, welche die jeweiligen Beiträge von Arbeitnehmerund Arbeitgeberheterogenität zur Lohnungleichheit entflechtet. Inspiriert von theoretischen Modellen der Arbeitsmarktsortierung leiten wir die Produktivität der arbeitgebenden Unternehmen aus Schätzungen von Produktionsfunktionen auf der Firmenebene ab. Wir berücksichtigen dabei insbesondere, dass die Firmenproduktivität auf der Matchebene mit der Leistungsfähigkeit der einzelnen Arbeitnehmer interagieren könnte. Anhand deutscher Daten beobachten wir, dass hochproduktive Firmen niedrige Lohnquoten aufweisen, in konzentrierten Märkten operieren und geringere Löhne zahlen als weniger produktive Firmen. Der Sortierungsgrad ist positiv aber niedriger als lohnbasierte Maße nahelegen. Er steigt mit der Zeit, getrieben durch neue Matches zwischen relativ unproduktiven Firmen und weniger leistungsfähigen Arbeitnehmern. An der Spitze geht der Sortierungsgrad zurück, was sich darin widerspiegelt, dass Arbeitnehmer die produktivsten Firmen, die relativ geringe Löhne zahlen, verlassen. Wir diskutieren Implikationen unserer Ergebnisse für die Interpretation steigender Lohnungleichheit. JEL J24, J31, J40, J62, J64, L25","PeriodicalId":48308,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Labor Economics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2022-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43393858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Edward P. Lazear Prize","authors":"","doi":"10.1086/721001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/721001","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48308,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Labor Economics","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"60726755","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-01Epub Date: 2022-05-20DOI: 10.1086/717730
Ian Burn, Patrick Button, Luis Munguia Corella, David Neumark
We study the relationships between ageist stereotypes - as reflected in the language used in job ads - and age discrimination in hiring, exploiting the text of job ads and differences in callbacks to older and younger job applicants from a resume (correspondence study) field experiment (Neumark, Burn, and Button, 2019). Our analysis uses computational linguistics and machine learning methods to examine, in a field-experiment setting, ageist stereotypes that might underlie age discrimination in hiring. In so doing, we develop methods and a framework for analyzing textual data, highlighting the usefulness of various computer science techniques for empirical economics research. We find evidence that language related to stereotypes of older workers sometimes predicts discrimination against older workers. For men, we find evidence that age stereotypes about all three categories we consider - health, personality, and skill - predict age discrimination, and for women, age stereotypes about personality predict age discrimination. In general, the evidence that age stereotypes predict age discrimination is much stronger for men, and our results for men are quite consistent with the industrial psychology literature on age stereotypes.
{"title":"Does Ageist Language in Job Ads Predict Age Discrimination in Hiring?","authors":"Ian Burn, Patrick Button, Luis Munguia Corella, David Neumark","doi":"10.1086/717730","DOIUrl":"10.1086/717730","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We study the relationships between ageist stereotypes - as reflected in the language used in job ads - and age discrimination in hiring, exploiting the text of job ads and differences in callbacks to older and younger job applicants from a resume (correspondence study) field experiment (Neumark, Burn, and Button, 2019). Our analysis uses computational linguistics and machine learning methods to examine, in a field-experiment setting, ageist stereotypes that might underlie age discrimination in hiring. In so doing, we develop methods and a framework for analyzing textual data, highlighting the usefulness of various computer science techniques for empirical economics research. We find evidence that language related to stereotypes of older workers sometimes predicts discrimination against older workers. For men, we find evidence that age stereotypes about all three categories we consider - health, personality, and skill - predict age discrimination, and for women, age stereotypes about personality predict age discrimination. In general, the evidence that age stereotypes predict age discrimination is much stronger for men, and our results for men are quite consistent with the industrial psychology literature on age stereotypes.</p>","PeriodicalId":48308,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Labor Economics","volume":"40 3","pages":"613-667"},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9285661/pdf/nihms-1730335.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9722743","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We explore how access to Head Start affects maternal labor supply. By relaxing childcare constraints, public preschools like Head Start might lead mothers to reallocate time among employment, childcare, and other activities. Using the 1990s enrollment and funding expansions and the 2002 Head Start Impact Study randomized controlled trial, we show that Head Start increases short-run employment and wage earnings of single mothers without reducing quality parent-child interactions. Even before including long-run benefits to children, the short-run benefit to single mothers and the government is $0.93 per dollar. Head Start is a family-level treatment with impacts beyond children.
{"title":"Access to Head Start and Maternal Labor Supply: Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Evidence","authors":"Jocelyn S. Wikle, Riley Wilson","doi":"10.1086/720980","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/720980","url":null,"abstract":"We explore how access to Head Start affects maternal labor supply. By relaxing childcare constraints, public preschools like Head Start might lead mothers to reallocate time among employment, childcare, and other activities. Using the 1990s enrollment and funding expansions and the 2002 Head Start Impact Study randomized controlled trial, we show that Head Start increases short-run employment and wage earnings of single mothers without reducing quality parent-child interactions. Even before including long-run benefits to children, the short-run benefit to single mothers and the government is $0.93 per dollar. Head Start is a family-level treatment with impacts beyond children.","PeriodicalId":48308,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Labor Economics","volume":"41 1","pages":"1081 - 1127"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46906094","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study investigates the effects of unobserved earnings-related endowments on marital outcomes, focusing on potential gender differences. Using a less stringent, more plausible assumption that monozygotic twins share more similar endowments relative to dizygotic twins, we develop a novel identification strategy from the twins experiment. Using unique Chinese twins survey data, we find that men with genetic endowments related to higher earnings marry earlier and have younger, taller wives; such women marry later and have older husbands with higher education and income. Results cast doubt on the conventional assumption of independence between unobservables and observable marital attributes.
{"title":"Unobserved Endowments and Gender Differences in Marriage Matching","authors":"Wenchao Li, X. Lou, Junjian Yi, Junsen Zhang","doi":"10.1086/720762","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/720762","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates the effects of unobserved earnings-related endowments on marital outcomes, focusing on potential gender differences. Using a less stringent, more plausible assumption that monozygotic twins share more similar endowments relative to dizygotic twins, we develop a novel identification strategy from the twins experiment. Using unique Chinese twins survey data, we find that men with genetic endowments related to higher earnings marry earlier and have younger, taller wives; such women marry later and have older husbands with higher education and income. Results cast doubt on the conventional assumption of independence between unobservables and observable marital attributes.","PeriodicalId":48308,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Labor Economics","volume":"41 1","pages":"859 - 886"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48828243","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper estimates the causal impacts of workers’ compensation income benefits on workers’ health and welfare outcomes. Using claims data from 2004 to 2016, I explore the variation in benefits due to a reform of New York workers’ compensation that increased the maximum weekly benefits. I find that a $77 increase in the weekly benefits led to an additional 3.4 days off work. Medical utilization did not increase. Each extra day off work decreased the reinjury likelihood by 2.9%. The current benefit level in New York is close to optimal in balancing payer cost and worker health outcomes.
{"title":"The Health and Welfare Effects of Increases in Workers’ Compensation Benefits","authors":"Lu Jinks","doi":"10.1086/720456","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/720456","url":null,"abstract":"This paper estimates the causal impacts of workers’ compensation income benefits on workers’ health and welfare outcomes. Using claims data from 2004 to 2016, I explore the variation in benefits due to a reform of New York workers’ compensation that increased the maximum weekly benefits. I find that a $77 increase in the weekly benefits led to an additional 3.4 days off work. Medical utilization did not increase. Each extra day off work decreased the reinjury likelihood by 2.9%. The current benefit level in New York is close to optimal in balancing payer cost and worker health outcomes.","PeriodicalId":48308,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Labor Economics","volume":"41 1","pages":"615 - 642"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2022-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44229364","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We study the effect of hearing cases alongside female judicial colleagues on the probability that a federal judge hires a female law clerk. Federal judges are assigned to judicial panels at random and have few limitations on their choices of clerks. Using a unique dataset of federal case records merged with judicial hiring information, we find a significant effect of the fraction of copanelists who are female on a male judge’s likelihood of hiring a female clerk. This finding suggests that increases in the diversity of the upper rungs of a profession can create opportunities at the entry level.
{"title":"Interactions with Powerful Female Colleagues Promote Diversity in Hiring","authors":"M. Battaglini, Jorgen Harris, Eleonora Patacchini","doi":"10.1086/720392","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/720392","url":null,"abstract":"We study the effect of hearing cases alongside female judicial colleagues on the probability that a federal judge hires a female law clerk. Federal judges are assigned to judicial panels at random and have few limitations on their choices of clerks. Using a unique dataset of federal case records merged with judicial hiring information, we find a significant effect of the fraction of copanelists who are female on a male judge’s likelihood of hiring a female clerk. This finding suggests that increases in the diversity of the upper rungs of a profession can create opportunities at the entry level.","PeriodicalId":48308,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Labor Economics","volume":"41 1","pages":"589 - 614"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2022-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45911221","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}