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The first essay addresses the estimation of wage discrimination. It considers the linkage of these estimates, using the "decompositions" introduced by Oaxaca (1973), to theoretical models of discriminatory behavior. A model of employer discrimination is used to derive conditions under which these widely used estimates are valid measures of discrimination. That this approach is more generally useful is demonstrated by showing that different assumptions about the nature of employers' discriminatory behavior lead to alternative estimates of wage discrimination.

The second essay studies the role of the family in determining earnings and various dimensions of human capital, focusing in particular on gender differences. The essay asks whether the finding of Bound, Griliches and Hall (1986), of "symmetric" treatment by the family of male and female offspring in determining ability and schooling, carries over when extended to the accumulation of labor force experience. Somewhat ambiguous findings emerge, due to the difficulty of identifying parameters capturing all of the possible channels of influence. In one version of the model, significant family effects on labor force experience for both men and women are found, and these effects are very dissimilar by gender. In a second version, the dissimilarity is attenuated.

The third essay studies the factor that is probably most responsible for male-female labor force differentials, the childbearing role of women. It focuses on the timing and spacing of fertility; the potential relationships between these variables and labor market outcomes are indicated in research by Bloom (1987). The broad issue it addresses is whether women choose birth intervals, or instead choose fertility control strategies entailing risks of a birth over time. The empirical results suggest that the first type of behavior is dominant. More strongly, the results show that much of the effects of demographic and other characteristics on the risk of a birth, found in "reduced form" hazard model estimates, are due to the relationship between these characteristics and expected duration.