In West Germany during the 1980s, law changes cut the level of unemployment compensation for the unemployed without children and extended the duration of unemployment insurance for unemployed aged over forty-one. Analysis of these changes using the German Socioeconomic Panel shows that...

Using the 2003 National Survey of College Graduates, I examine how immigrants perform in activities likely to increase U.S. productivity, according to the type of visa on which they first entered the United States. Immigrants who entered on a student/trainee visa or a temporary work visa have a...

Following the unification of Germany in 1990, eastern wages and unemployment both rose rapidly. I demonstrate that rising wages reduced eastern emigration greatly, while rising unemployment had little effect. This reflects the behavior of the young, who are very sensitive to source region wages,...

The gender wage gap in East Germany has narrowed by 10 percentage points in transition, but women have experienced much more severe employment difficulties than men. Using the German Socio-Economic Panel for 199094, I show that on balance women have lost relative to men. Almost half the relative...