Wage gaps between individuals of difference races, sexes, and ethnicities have been documented and replicated extensively, and have generated a long history in labor economics research of empirical tests for labor market discrimination. The most widely-used approach to test for labor market...

This essay presents an overview of EEO laws designed to outlaw employment discrimination, as well as Affirmative Action efforts to actively raise the status of minorities and women in employment, university admissions, and government procurement. We review the laws, court decisions, and...

We review the existing evidence on age discrimination and its effects in U.S. labor markets. First, we look at attempts to describe the attitudes in the workplace toward older individuals and how these may affect managerial decision making. Second, we review the types of cases filed with the...

One-third of children in the United States are born to unmarried parents. A substantial number of black and Hispanic children live with a never-married mother. Children of never-married mothers are more likely to drop out of high school, repeat grades, and have behavioral problems than are...

One definition of social capital is the "networks of relationships among people who live and work in a particular society, enabling that society to function effectively". This definition of social capital highlights two key features. First, it refers to connections between people, shifting our...

One definition of social capital is the "networks of relationships among people who live and work in a particular society, enabling that society to function effectively". This definition of social capital highlights two key features. First, it refers to connections between people, shifting our...

One definition of social capital is the "networks of relationships among people who live and work in a particular society, enabling that society to function effectively". This definition of social capital highlights two key features. First, it refers to connections between people, shifting our...

We study the relationship between Hispanic employment and location-specific measures of the distribution of jobs. We find that it is only the local density of jobs held by Hispanics that matters for Hispanic employment, that measures of local job density defined for Hispanic poor English...

Because the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program is means-tested, with both income limits and asset limits, those on the margin of eligibility for the elderly component of the program face incentives to reduce labor supply (or earnings) prior to becoming eligible. Our past research relying...

Sex differences in labor markets are pervasive. In the United States three differences, in particular, have attracted the most attention from economists: the earnings gap between women and men; occupational segregation of women and men; and the greater responsibility of women for child care and...