This chapter focuses on the lessons learned from four decades of studying the relationship between unions and job satisfaction. We discuss the original paradox that started the literature and trace the on-going debate over results that differ by sample and by estimation technique. We emphasize...

We examine the hypothesis that performance pay increases work hours. If performance pay incentivizes greater hours, this could cause the demonstrated link between performance pay and poorer worker health. Using US survey data, we confirm greater work hours and an increased likelihood of long...

Nearly all workers have a supervisor or 'boss'. Yet there is almost no published research by economists into how bosses affect the quality of employees' lives. This study offers some of the first formal evidence. First, it is shown that a boss's technical competence is the single strongest...

Existing studies of how note-taking tools affect student learning typically find that students who choose to take notes on a computer perform worse on assessments than students who take notes on paper. To our knowledge, the literature has not disentangled whether this result is due to the...

Job satisfaction has a significant and negative impact on voluntary job quits that may vary in size by gender. If women are more likely than men to quit dissatisfying jobs and therefore interrupt their careers, then gender gaps in earnings, labor force participation and leadership roles may...

The participation of females in the labor force has grown remarkably in the last 50 years. Yet almost nothing is known about how an increasing presence of female bosses affects employee well-being. We provide evidence consistent with the surprising idea that women are much less happy when they...

Nearly all workers have a supervisor or 'boss'. Yet there is almost no published research by economists into how bosses affect the quality of employees' lives. This study offers some of the first formal evidence. First, it is shown that a boss's technical competence is the single strongest...

The motherhood wage penalty is often cited as a contributor towards the gender earnings gap. A potential explanation involves women’s reduced labor force participation and paid work hours after having children. Yet, the literature says little about whether mothers’ labor supply reductions...

This study employs a random control trial experimental design to compare student learning outcomes in situations with live lectures and situations with ‘captured’ – virtually recorded asynchronous – lectures. Students across five sections of introductory microeconomics were randomly...