Using the large nationally-representative Malaysian Household Income Surveys from 1984, 1989 and 1997, the paper studies earnings inequality and determinants of earnings. During the period 1984-97, Malaysia’s real per capita GDP increased by about 70 percent, participation rates for both men...

We examine the possible sources of the larger racial and ethnic wage gaps for men than for women in the U.S. Specifically, using a newly created employer-employee matched data set containing workers in essentially all occupations, industries, and regions, we examine whether these wage...

Plenty. This paper analyzes two broad questions: Does your first name matter? And how did you get your first name anyway? Using data from the National Opinion Research Center’s (NORC's) General Social Survey, including access to respondent’s first names from the 1994 and 2002 surveys, we...

This paper provides an evolutionary rationale for both interracial and intraracial wage differentials by examining the implications of white employers mediating their employer-employee relationships on the basis of genetic similarity. If in organized labor markets, relationships mediated through...

There is considerable evidence that males are more prone to take risks than females. This difference has implications for rates of promotion in hierarchies where promotion is based on random signals of ability. I explore the promotion consequences of three types of performance standards:...

This paper applies parametric and nonparametric techniques to the most recent data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) 1992- 2000 and shows the returns to schooling increased over the course of transition, overall and for attainment cohorts neither at the top nor bottom of the...

This paper proposes a new test to distinguish between the two leading theories of discrimination: preference versus information. Discrimination based on preferences occurs when people behave as if they refuse to change their stereotypes about the capabilities of discriminated individuals. Those...

Theories about the importance of space in urban labor markets have emphasized the role of employment access, on the one hand, and neighborhood composition, on the other hand, in affecting employment outcomes. This paper presents an empirical analysis which considers both of these factors,...

In this paper the Signalling approach to the explanation of wage differentials is analyzed both under a microeconomic and a macroeconomic viewpoint. Departuring from the classical Spence's model, the introduction of inequalities in accessing to education leads to redistributive effects among...

An employer-based sample of over 660,000 Czech and 260,000 Slovak workers is used to estimate the benefits of education in 1995 to 1997. By 1997 education of all types had become substantially more highly rewarded in both countries than it was either under communism or in the early years of the...