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Source: Journal of Economic Literature
Resulting in 8 citations.
1. Bowles, Samuel
Gintis, Herbert
Osborne, Melissa Anne
The Determinants of Earnings: A Behavioral Approach
Journal of Economic Literature 39,4 (December 2001): 1137-1176.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2698522
Cohort(s): NLSY79, Older Men, Young Women
Publisher: American Economic Association
Keyword(s): Behavior; Earnings; Human Capital; Skills

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

Enhancing individuals' capacity to succeed in the labor market is a major objective of both families and policy makers, one which in recent years has assumed special urgency with respect to those with low earnings. According to the canonical model, earnings are determined by human capital, which consists of capacities to contribute to production, generically called skills. Individuals possess a vector of these capabilities, "c," and sell these on the labor market at hourly prices "p," with hourly earnings "w = pc." But we know surprisingly little about what skills make up the vector of individual capabilities contributing to higher earnings, and as we will see, some common beliefs about the earnings-generation process receive little support from available data. However, recent developments in labor econometrics and the microeconomics of labor markets provide the basis for a reconsideration of the determinants of individual earnings. We here survey what is known about the determinants of individual earnings and, drawing on a number of recent contributions, propose a behavioral model that is capable of addressing the following puzzles in a parsimonious and non-ad hoc manner.
Bibliography Citation
Bowles, Samuel, Herbert Gintis and Melissa Anne Osborne. "The Determinants of Earnings: A Behavioral Approach." Journal of Economic Literature 39,4 (December 2001): 1137-1176.
2. Goldberger, Arthur
Manski, Charles F.
Review Article: The Bell Curve by Herrnstein and Murray
Journal of Economic Literature 33,2 (June 1995): 762-776.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2729026
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: American Economic Association
Keyword(s): I.Q.; Racial Differences; Test Scores/Test theory/IRT; Tests and Testing

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

Goldberger and Manaski critique Herrnstein and Murray's "The Bell Curve" from an economics perspective, articulating flaws in the study's empirical analysis as well as its reliance on insufficient anecdotal evidence. Among their arguments is that Murray and Herrnstein are "obsessed" with using NLSY data and that NLSY regressions offer "no meaningful empirical evidence on the dynamic of American society" as it pertains to the claims of "The Bell Curve."
Bibliography Citation
Goldberger, Arthur and Charles F. Manski. "Review Article: The Bell Curve by Herrnstein and Murray." Journal of Economic Literature 33,2 (June 1995): 762-776.
3. Haider, Steven J.
Review of: Divergent Paths: Economic Mobility in the New American Labor Market
Journal of Economic Literature 41,1 (March 2003): 235-236.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3217413
Cohort(s): NLSY79, Young Men
Publisher: American Economic Association
Keyword(s): Career Patterns; Labor Market Outcomes; Mobility, Economic; Mobility, Labor Market

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

Wages are down. Inequality is up. Job security is down. These are common refrains from the popular press and the academic literature from the 1980s through the mid-1990s. Divergent Pathes tackles these issues head-on from an interesting perspective and with a useful and novel method. The perspective is to analyze the career development of young workers. The method is to examine changes in career development by comparing two NLS cohorts, one from the 1960s and 1970s and one from the 1980s and 1990s. The result of the analysis is a rich description of changes in how careers unfold.
Bibliography Citation
Haider, Steven J. "Review of: Divergent Paths: Economic Mobility in the New American Labor Market." Journal of Economic Literature 41,1 (March 2003): 235-236.
4. Haveman, Robert H.
Wolfe, Barbara L.
The Determinants of Children's Attainments: A Review of Methods and Findings
Journal of Economic Literature 33,4 (December 1995): 1829-1878.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2729315
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: American Economic Association
Keyword(s): Childbearing, Adolescent; Demography; Earnings; Educational Attainment; Family Influences; Family Studies; Fertility; General Assessment; Marital Status; Neighborhood Effects; Overview, Child Assessment Data; Welfare

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

The empirical research on the links between investments in children and children's attainments is reviewed and critiqued. The studies included emphasized the potential effects on children of family choices and neighborhood characteristics, the latter taken to reflect social choices. While the focus is on economic literature, relevant studies from other social sciences are included. The primary theoretical perspective that have guided research on the determinants of children's attainments are summarized. A more general and comprehensive economic perspective on the issue is also presented. The children's outcomes that are emphasized include: 1. educational attainment, 2. fertility choices (especially non marital births during teenage years), and 3. work- related outcomes such as earnings and welfare recipiency. Copyright ABI Inform.
Bibliography Citation
Haveman, Robert H. and Barbara L. Wolfe. "The Determinants of Children's Attainments: A Review of Methods and Findings." Journal of Economic Literature 33,4 (December 1995): 1829-1878.
5. Kahne, Hilda
Kohen, Andrew I.
Economic Perspectives on the Roles of Women in the American Economy
Journal of Economic Literature 13,4 (December 1975): 1249-1292.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2722298
Cohort(s): Mature Women, Young Women
Publisher: American Economic Association
Keyword(s): Children; Employment; Family Background and Culture; Fertility; Marriage; School Quality; Schooling; Welfare; Work History

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

The purpose of this article is to present in nontechnical language an overview of some of the recent economic literature relating to women. The article identifies the range of topical interests of economists and spells out some of the findings. This review cannot cover all of the economic areas bearing on women. It looks primarily at the literature relating to women's economic roles and omits a number of areas where a general, theoretical or analytic framework also has a relevance for women.
Bibliography Citation
Kahne, Hilda and Andrew I. Kohen. "Economic Perspectives on the Roles of Women in the American Economy." Journal of Economic Literature 13,4 (December 1975): 1249-1292.
6. Rosenzweig, Mark R.
Wolpin, Kenneth I.
Natural "Natural Experiments" in Economics
Journal of Economic Literature 38,4 (December 2000): 827-874.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2698663
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: American Economic Association
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Earnings; Educational Returns; Fertility; Heterogeneity; Income; Labor Supply; Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Savings; Siblings; Work Experience

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

The costliness of and limitations on experiments involving human subjects have long been identified as major constraints on the progress of economic science. Indeed, it has been increasingly recognized that identification of many interesting parameters, such as the effects of schooling or work experience on earnings or of income on savings, requires attention to the fact that the variation in many of the variables whose effects are of interest may not be orthogonal to unobservable factors that jointly affect the outcomes studied. Such unmeasured or unmeasurable factors may include pre-existing or endowed skills ("ability"), preferences, or technologies that vary across individuals or firms in the economy. The possible existence of heterogeneity in these attributes means that almost all estimates are open to alternative interpretations in terms of self-selection by such traits. In determining the returns to schooling, for example, individuals cannot be considered to be randomly sorted among schooling levels. Thus, that more-schooled individuals have higher earnings may reflect the fact that more able individuals prefer schooling or face lower schooling costs. Similarly, that fertility and female labor supply are negatively correlated may reflect variation in preferences for children and work in the population.
Bibliography Citation
Rosenzweig, Mark R. and Kenneth I. Wolpin. "Natural "Natural Experiments" in Economics." Journal of Economic Literature 38,4 (December 2000): 827-874.
7. Strauss, John
Thomas, Duncan
Health, Nutrition, and Economic Development
Journal of Economic Literature 36,2 (June 1998): 766-817.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2565122
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Economic Association
Keyword(s): Child Health; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Human Capital; Labor Economics; Labor Market Outcomes; Labor Market Surveys; Wage Effects

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

Over the past 20 years, investment in human resources has taken center stage in the study of developing economies. A voluminous set of wage function estimates provides the basis for calculating market returns to education for virtually every country in the world. Studies have also looked at the effects of schooling on nonmarket outcomes. Prominent among those outcomes is the health of children and adults. Since health, like schooling, is a form of human capital, one might expect it to also be related to labor market success. That link has received much less attention in the empirical literature, although in recent years there have been substantial advances in our understanding of the complex interrelationships between health, nutrition, and economic development. This paper reviews some of the evidence.
Bibliography Citation
Strauss, John and Duncan Thomas. "Health, Nutrition, and Economic Development." Journal of Economic Literature 36,2 (June 1998): 766-817.
8. Sundstrom, William A.
Review of: On the Job: Is Long-Term Employment a Thing of the Past?
Journal of Economic Literature 41,1 (March 2003): 237-238.
Also: http://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/002205103321544747
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: American Economic Association
Keyword(s): Job Tenure; Labor Turnover; Mobility, Job; Part-Time Work

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

This collection of papers is motivated by recent concerns about corporate downsizing and a perceived weakening of the attachment between U.S. employers and their employees. The emphasis is on the accurate measurement of recent trends in job stability and job security. The five chapters in the first section of the vilume report on alternative measures of job stability. The second section of the book examines changes in job security. The chapters of the third and final section focus on trends in temporary, contract and part-time employment arrangements and their implications for job stability.
Bibliography Citation
Sundstrom, William A. "Review of: On the Job: Is Long-Term Employment a Thing of the Past?" Journal of Economic Literature 41,1 (March 2003): 237-238.