In this paper we examine earnings of synthetic cohorts contained in the Current Population Surveys (CPS) for each year 1968 to 1975. The CPS data are useful to test for the importance of local labor markets because individuals can be assigned to markets by calendar year and area of residence. We...

In this paper, I discuss the changing economic situation of women in the United States and draw some parallels between the American experience and that in Japan. Although the purpose of this paper is not to conduct a comparative study, I will draw parallels I see betweens the American and...

Data from three waves of the Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS) are used to examine follow-up and attrition in the context of a large scale panel survey conducted in a low-income setting. Household-level attrition between the baseline and first follow-up four years later is less than 6 percent;...

In this paper we examine disparities in the ability to function among older Americans. We place special emphasis on two goals: (1) understanding the quantitatively large socioeconomic status-health gradient, and (2) the persistence in health outcomes over long periods. We find that there exist...

In this paper a model is developed which is designed to capture the channels through which income transfer programs are likely to affect working hours of family members. The model demonstrates that the appropriate framework is neither a pure one-period or life-cycle one, but rather one that...

This paper examines wealth data in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). In comparison with asset data in other major surveys, the quality of HRS asset data is high. Missing asset data does remain a problem, however, to which future HRS analysts must remain sensitive. Evidence is presented...

Twenty years ago the average black woman employed full time was earning approximately half the wage rate of a similarly employed white woman. By 1975 almost complete racial parity in female wages had been achieved. Although this remarkable advance in the economic status of black women has...