From 1981 to 1991 the mean earnings of immigrants fell further behind those of natives in Hong Kong, with the earnings gap widening from 11.3% to 25.5%. Earnings divergence of this magnitude is rather unusual among countries that receive many immigrants. We show that earnings divergence in Hong...

In recent decades many countries have simultaneously liberalized their trading regimes and expanded their education systems. The theoretical effect of these regime shifts on the wage differential between skilled and unskilled workers is ambiguous. On the one hand, openness to trade causes demand...

Our paper studies the determinants of happiness in China and U.S. and provides a better understanding of the issue of inequalities in happiness beyond income inequality. Based on the two waves of nation-wide survey data on happiness collected by World Values Survey in 1995 and 2007, Probit and...

This paper analyzes changes in the gender earnings gap in urban China over the period 1988–2004 using urban household survey data. The mean female/male earnings ratio declined from 86.3% to 76.2%. Mainly responsible for this diverging trend were rapid increases in returns to both observed...

It is often believed that spouses’ wages are positively related even when other traits such as age and education are controlled. This is mainly based on the observation of two-earner couples. This paper uses the standard sample selection technique to correct for the sample censoring and to...