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Author: Lang, Kevin
Resulting in 9 citations.
1. Bond, Timothy N.
Lang, Kevin
The Evolution of the Black-White Test Score Gap in Grades K-3: The Fragility of Results
NBER Working Paper No. 17960. National Bureau of Economic Research, March 2012.
Also: http://www.nber.org/papers/w17960
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Keyword(s): Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-B, ECLS-K); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Racial Differences; School Progress; Test Scores/Test theory/IRT

Although both economists and psychometricians typically treat them as interval scales, test scores are reported using ordinal scales. Using the Early Child-hood Longitudinal Study and the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we examine how order-preserving scale transformations affect the evolution of the black-white reading test score gap from kindergarten entry through third grade. Plausible transformations reverse the growth of the gap in the CNLSY and greatly reduce it in the ECLS-K during the early school years. All growth from entry through first grade and a nontrivial proportion from first to third grade probably reflects scaling decisions.
Bibliography Citation
Bond, Timothy N. and Kevin Lang. "The Evolution of the Black-White Test Score Gap in Grades K-3: The Fragility of Results." NBER Working Paper No. 17960. National Bureau of Economic Research, March 2012.
2. Bond, Timothy N.
Lang, Kevin
The Evolution of the Black-White Test Score Gap in Grades K–3: The Fragility of Results
Review of Economics and Statistics 95,5 (December 2013): 1468-1479.
Also: www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/REST_a_00370#.U5DN_hDCrsk
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: MIT Press
Keyword(s): Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-B, ECLS-K); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Racial Differences; School Progress; Test Scores/Test theory/IRT

Although both economists and psychometricians typically treat them as interval scales, test scores are reported using ordinal scales. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-K) and the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (CNLSY), we examine how order-preserving scale transformations affect the evolution of the black-white reading test score gap from kindergarten entry through third grade. Plausible transformations reverse the growth of the gap in the CNLSY and greatly reduce it in the ECLS-K during the early school years. All growth from entry through first grade and a nontrivial proportion from first to third grade probably reflects scaling decisions.
Bibliography Citation
Bond, Timothy N. and Kevin Lang. "The Evolution of the Black-White Test Score Gap in Grades K–3: The Fragility of Results." Review of Economics and Statistics 95,5 (December 2013): 1468-1479.
3. Lang, Kevin
Manove, Michael
Education and Labor Market Discrimination
American Economic Review 101,4 (June 2011): 1467–1496.
Also: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.101.4.1467
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Economic Association
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Education; Educational Attainment; Racial Differences; Wage Differentials

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Using a model of statistical discrimination and educational sorting, we explain why blacks get more education than whites of similar cognitive ability, and we explore how the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT), wages, and education are related. The model suggests that one should control for both AFQT and education when comparing the earnings of blacks and whites, in which case a substantial black-white wage differential emerges. We reject the hypothesis that differences in school quality between blacks and whites explain the wage and education differentials. Our findings support the view that some of the black-white wage differential reflects the operation of the labor market. (JEL I21, J15, J24, J31, J71)
Bibliography Citation
Lang, Kevin and Michael Manove. "Education and Labor Market Discrimination." American Economic Review 101,4 (June 2011): 1467–1496. A.
4. Lang, Kevin
Ruud, Paul A.
Returns to Schooling, Implicit Discount Rates and Black-White Wage Differentials
Review of Economics and Statistics 68,1 (February 1986): 41-47.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1924926
Cohort(s): Young Men
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Keyword(s): Educational Attainment; Educational Returns; Family Background and Culture; Racial Differences; Schooling; Socioeconomic Background; Wage Differentials

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

A simple econometric model of investment in schooling is developed and estimated. The measure of individual discount rates implicit in their educational investment decisions suggests no difference between individuals from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Differences in individual speeds of educational attainment, which do vary with background, explain most of the variation in levels of attainment that is attributable to family background.
Bibliography Citation
Lang, Kevin and Paul A. Ruud. "Returns to Schooling, Implicit Discount Rates and Black-White Wage Differentials." Review of Economics and Statistics 68,1 (February 1986): 41-47.
5. Lang, Kevin
Sepulveda, Carlos
Black-White Test Score Differential
Presented: Cambridge, MA, Annual Achievement Gap Initiative Research Conference, June 2007.
Also: http://people.bu.edu/csepulve/Lang&SepulvedaKG-15.pdf
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: Graduate School of Education, Harvard University
Keyword(s): Achievement; Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Children, Academic Development; Elementary School Students; Family Structure; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Parent-Child Interaction; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Racial Differences; Test Scores/Test theory/IRT; Tests and Testing

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Using a sample from the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we replicate the Fryer/Levitt finding that a small number of sociodemographic factors explain all of the black-white reading gap in kindergarten. These factors also explain most of the gap in math in kindergarten. However, they explain relatively little of the gap in cognitive skill as measured by the Picture Peabody Vocabulary Test at age three or four. Conditional on early PPVT and mother's AFQT, black children outperform white children in reading through second grade and equal their performance in both math and reading through fifth grade. A variety of demographic and home environment variables explain about half of the black-white gap on the PPVT. Strikingly, as we include additional measures of the home environment, the effect of mother's AFQT on child's early PPVT falls almost to zero.
Bibliography Citation
Lang, Kevin and Carlos Sepulveda. "Black-White Test Score Differential." Presented: Cambridge, MA, Annual Achievement Gap Initiative Research Conference, June 2007.
6. Lang, Kevin
Weinstein, Russell
A Test of Adverse Selection in the Market for Experienced Workers
NBER Working Paper No. 22387. National Bureau of Economic Research, July 2016.
Also: http://nber.org/papers/w22387
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Keyword(s): Mobility, Job; Wage Growth

We show that in labor market models with adverse selection, otherwise observationally equivalent workers will experience less wage growth following a period in which they change jobs than following a period in which they do not. We find little or no evidence to support this prediction. In most specifications the coefficient has the opposite sign, sometimes statistically significantly so. When consistent with the prediction, the estimated effects are small and statistically insignificant. We consistently reject large effects in the predicted direction. We argue informally that our results are also problematic for a broader class of models of competitive labor markets.
Bibliography Citation
Lang, Kevin and Russell Weinstein. "A Test of Adverse Selection in the Market for Experienced Workers." NBER Working Paper No. 22387. National Bureau of Economic Research, July 2016.
7. Lang, Kevin
Zagorsky, Jay L.
Does Growing Up with a Parent Absent Really Hurt?
Working Paper, Center for Human Resource Research,The Ohio State University, Columbus OH, October 1997
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Center for Human Resource Research
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Children; Cognitive Ability; Education; Fathers, Absence; Fathers, Presence; Gender Differences; Household Composition; Wealth

It is widely recognized that children who grow up without one of their biological parents in the home do worse, on average, than other children. However, having a single parent is highly correlated with lots of other socioeconomic disadvantages. Therefore, we must be cautious about ascribing the negative outcome to the parent's absence. Using a variety of controls and instruments, we find little evidence that absence of a parent affects income or wealth. Father's presence has a notable impact on cognitive ability, education and marital status for men. For women. mother's presence is important for cognitive ability and education.
Bibliography Citation
Lang, Kevin and Jay L. Zagorsky. "Does Growing Up with a Parent Absent Really Hurt?" Working Paper, Center for Human Resource Research,The Ohio State University, Columbus OH, October 1997.
8. Lang, Kevin
Zagorsky, Jay L.
Does Growing Up with a Parent Absent Really Hurt?
Journal of Human Resources 36,2 (Spring 2001): 253-273.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3069659
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Keyword(s): Bias Decomposition; Children; Cognitive Ability; Economic Well-Being; Fathers, Absence; Parental Influences; Parents, Single

It is widely recognized that children who grow up without a biological parent do worse, on average, than other children. However, because having a single parent is highly correlated with many other socioeconomic disadvantages, the negative outcomes might be caused by something beyond the parent's absence. Econometric tests using a variety of background controls and parental death as an exogenous cause of absence, show little evidence that a parent's presence during childhood affects economic well being in adulthood. The two exceptions are that living without a mother impacts girls' cognitive performance while having a father die lowers sons' chances of marriage.
Bibliography Citation
Lang, Kevin and Jay L. Zagorsky. "Does Growing Up with a Parent Absent Really Hurt?" Journal of Human Resources 36,2 (Spring 2001): 253-273.
9. Weinstein, Russell
Lang, Kevin
Cavounidis, Costas
The Boss is Watching: How Monitoring Decisions Hurt Black Workers
The Economic Journal published online (27 September 2023).
Also: https://doi.org/10.1093/ej/uead079
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Royal Economic Society (RES)
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Black Studies; Discrimination; Discrimination, Employer; Discrimination, Job; Discrimination, Racial/Ethnic; Employment; Employment, History; Income; Monitoring, Discriminatory; Racial Equality/Inequality; Racial Studies; Unemployment; Unemployment Duration

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

African Americans face shorter employment durations than similar Whites. We hypothesize that employers discriminate in acquiring or acting on ability-relevant information. In our model, monitoring Black, but not White, workers is self-sustaining. New Black hires were more likely fired by previous employers after monitoring. This reduces firms’ beliefs about ability, incentivizing discriminatory monitoring. We confirm our predictions that layoffs are initially higher for Black than non-Black workers, but that they converge with seniority and decline more with the Armed Forces Qualification Test for Black workers. Two additional predictions, lower lifetime incomes and longer unemployment durations for Black workers, have known empirical support.
Bibliography Citation
Weinstein, Russell, Kevin Lang and Costas Cavounidis. "The Boss is Watching: How Monitoring Decisions Hurt Black Workers ." The Economic Journal published online (27 September 2023).