This paper estimates the returns to retraining for older displaced workers—those 35 or older—by estimating the impact of community college schooling on earnings. Our analysis relies on longitudinal administrative records covering workers displaced from jobs in Washington State during the...

Most of the formal studies of cultural policy concentrate on the role of central governments and their approaches to supporting the arts, creative industries and heritage. Less attention has been given to cultural policy at the sub-national level despite the fact that the states in the United...

When students are tracked into vocational and academic secondary schools, access to higher education is usually restricted to those who were selected into the academic track. Postponing such tracking may increase the relative educational attainment of disadvantaged students if they have...

We determine the prevalence of disability and examine how a wide range of outcomes change with disability. The outcomes we examine include employment, hours, earnings, income and consumption. We have five main findings. First, disability rates are high. We find that nearly one-fifth of male...

This paper investigates the degree to which the local prevalence of AIDS increases the demand for disease-preventing methods of contraception among young adults. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), we find substantial evidence that the use of condoms was quite...

Forecasting the Food Stamp caseload has become increasingly important. One reason is the sheer frequency and magnitude of recent fluctuations. Over a span of less than fifteen years, the FSP caseload has exhibited three prominent turning points. The caseload declined from 22.4 million...

Households became more geographically segregated by income in the United States between 1970 and 1990. Economic inequality also increased between 1970 and 1990. Using 1970, 1980, and 1990 Census data, I find that an increase in income inequality at the state level is associated with an increased...

Interest groups can influence political decisions in two distinct ways: by offering contributions to political actors and by providing them with relevant information that is advantageous for the group. We analyze the conditions under which interest groups are more inclined to use one or the...

This paper examines the extent to which a democratic society characterized by an unequal distribution of income, is capable of transforming potential efficiency gains into actual economy-wide welfare gains. The model emphasizes the distortive effects of these potential efficiency gains on the...

This responds to an invitation to comment on Steve Fuller’s severely critical appraisal of Thomas Kuhn. In a slightly different version it appears, along with other invited comments and a response from Steve Fuller, in Social Epistemology 17:211-213 (November 2003).