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Author: Lazear, Edward
Resulting in 6 citations.
1. Lazear, Edward
Age, Experience, and Wage Growth
American Economic Review 66,4 (September 1976): 548-558.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1806695
Cohort(s): Young Men
Publisher: American Economic Association
Keyword(s): Age and Ageing; Earnings; Military Service; Schooling; Unions; Work Experience

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

This study estimates the human capital (i.e. work experience) component of earnings and found it to be about 1/3 of total compensation for young workers. "Aging" per se thus accounts for a significant proportion of wage growth over and beyond the effects of work experience; however, as individuals grow older the aging effect is less strong.
Bibliography Citation
Lazear, Edward. "Age, Experience, and Wage Growth." American Economic Review 66,4 (September 1976): 548-558.
2. Lazear, Edward
Education: Consumption or Production?
Journal of Political Economy 85,3 (June 1977): 569-598.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1830197
Cohort(s): Young Men
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Keyword(s): Educational Attainment; Income Dynamics/Shocks; Simultaneity

This paper attempts to determine whether the relationship between education and income results because schooling allows individuals to earn higher income or because higher income individuals purchase more of all normal goods, including schooling. Education is treated as a joint product, producing potential wage gains and utility simultaneously. The framework permits estimation of the rental price of a unit of education, net of consumption effects. The major finding is that education does causally produce income. By moving from 0 years of schooling to 12 years, the mean individual approximately triples his wealth. More surprising is that education is a "bad." Individuals stop short of acquiring the wealth-maximizing level of education because of the disutility associated with school attendance.
Bibliography Citation
Lazear, Edward. "Education: Consumption or Production?" Journal of Political Economy 85,3 (June 1977): 569-598.
3. Lazear, Edward
Family Background and Optimal Schooling Decisions
Review of Economics and Statistics 62,1 (February 1980): 42-51.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1924271
Cohort(s): Young Men
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Keyword(s): Educational Attainment; Family Background and Culture; Household Income; I.Q.; Schooling; Socioeconomic Status (SES)

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

This paper considers whether variations in levels of attained schooling across groups can be explained by a model that assumes that capital markets are perfect and that individuals maximize wealth. The model set forth in this paper allows one to test for capital cost differences across income groups. Other things constant, evidence of very small differences is found.
Bibliography Citation
Lazear, Edward. "Family Background and Optimal Schooling Decisions." Review of Economics and Statistics 62,1 (February 1980): 42-51.
4. Lazear, Edward
Schooling as a Wage Depressant
Journal of Human Resources 12,2 (Spring 1977): 164-176.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/145383
Cohort(s): Young Men
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Keyword(s): College Graduates; Dropouts; Educational Returns; Mobility, Job; Part-Time Work; Schooling; Wages

Other things constant, students' measured wage rates are only about 85 percent those of nonstudents. This finding is consistent with a hypothesis that suggests that students receive an equalizing difference in the form of more flexible or easier jobs at the price of lower pecuniary earnings. Another finding of this study is that students who work only during the summer are less likely than others to accept lower-paying jobs. Furthermore, 92 percent of students who work change jobs upon graduation, and returns to school-leaving are linked to the switch. Finally, the results cannot be explained by student-glutted labor markets.
Bibliography Citation
Lazear, Edward. "Schooling as a Wage Depressant." Journal of Human Resources 12,2 (Spring 1977): 164-176.
5. Lazear, Edward
The Narrowing of Black-White Wage Differentials Is Illusory
American Economic Review 69,4 (September 1979): 553-564.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1808702
Cohort(s): Young Men
Publisher: American Economic Association
Keyword(s): Job Training; Racial Differences; Training, On-the-Job; Wage Differentials

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

The recent evidence of a substantial narrowing of the black-white wage difference is due to a wage measurement problem. There has not been as great a narrowing in the black-white differential as it appears from looking at observed wages. Instead, blacks in recent cohorts have experienced a relative substitution of current wages for future wages or earnings power. But this differential in total compensation is severely overstated by differences in pecuniary wages. It appears that much of what employers have been giving nonwhites in current wages has been recaptured by a reduction in on-the-job training (OJT) provided. This paper estimates the unobserved component of wages. The size of this component is calculated for non-whites and whites separately and then compared. Since, as it turns out, the component is larger for whites than nonwhites, observed wage differentials understate true differentials. The most important conclusion is that nonwhite gains in pecuniary wages over the eight-year period under study were more than offset by declines in the unobserved OJT component of earnings. It is also the case that in terms of level of OJT, whites seem to receive substantially more than nonwhites in both periods. It is the change over time, however, that finds whites enjoying even greater gains in OJT than nonwhites. This causes the true differential to rise while the observed one falls.
Bibliography Citation
Lazear, Edward. "The Narrowing of Black-White Wage Differentials Is Illusory." American Economic Review 69,4 (September 1979): 553-564.
6. Lazear, Edward
Miller, Frederick H.
Minimum Wage versus Minimum Compensation
Report of the Minimum Wage Study Commission 5 (1981): 347-380
Cohort(s): Young Men
Publisher: U.S. Department of Labor
Keyword(s): Benefits, Fringe; Minimum Wage; NLS of H.S. Class of 1972; Teenagers

The question examined in this paper is whether a minimum wage constraint induces employers to reduce other aspects of compensation. In particular, we examine the relationship between the imposition of a minimum wage and the rate of subsequent wage growth. One possible hypothesis is that the provision of on-the-job training by the employer is reduced as a way to compensate for the increased pecuniary wage rate. We find little support for this hypothesis. Other papers, by Mincer and Leighton, and by Hashimoto, claim to find strong effects of this sort.
Bibliography Citation
Lazear, Edward and Frederick H. Miller. "Minimum Wage versus Minimum Compensation." Report of the Minimum Wage Study Commission 5 (1981): 347-380.