Studies have shown a decreasing trend in the U.S. gender earnings gap since the 1980s. The authors work with a framework established by Blau and Kahn (1997 JOLE; 2006 ILRR), who used the Michigan Panel of Income Dynamics (PSID) to decompose that gap into observable and unobservable components in...

This paper tests the morale theory of nominal wage rigidity, according to which firms resist making nominal cuts to workers’ pay even in adverse economic conditions because such cuts hurt worker morale and productivity. The authors analyze data from an employer-employee survey they conducted...

Comments on an article about the significance of labor economics research to policy decisions. Issues surrounding labor economics; Relationship between inflation and unemployment; Information on human capital theory; Factors that influence academic labor economics. (Abstract copyright EBSCO.)

Although most economic theories of discrimination hypothesize that discrimination stems from people's discriminatory tastes, no empirical study of the labor market has examined tastes for discrimination directly or considered people's willingness to trade off other preferences to indulge their...

Using a wide array of examples from the literature and from original estimates, the author examines the pitfalls that make good empirical research in labor economics at least as much craft as statistical technique. Among the subjects discussed are the appropriateness and cleanliness of data;...

Tests the "split the difference" bargaining model by examining data on the parties' opening and final positions with respect to wages in various negotiations concluded between September 1968 and December 1970. Difficulty with the model proposed by John Nash; Possibilities that emerged. (Abstract...

Provides information on an economic formula for allocating expenditures for manpower programs across geographical areas in the United States. Issues surrounding revenue-sharing programs; Elements of the proposed economic formula for revenue-sharing; Effect of commuting on allocation of resources...

This study uses detailed time diaries from household surveys for 1975 and 1981 to examine how changes in the use of time on the job affect earnings. Among nonunion workers, the marginal minute of break time apparently increases earnings, but not as much as does the marginal minute of work time....

Evidence from Current Population Surveys, various cohorts of the National Longitudinal Surveys, and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics suggests that the fraction of American employees who were paid salaries held constant from the late 1960s through the late 1970s, and continued to hold constant...