We propose a model that combines statistical discrimination and educational sorting that explains why blacks get more education than do whites of similar cognitive ability. Our model explains the difference between blacks and whites in the relations between education and AFQT and between wages...

We develop a model in which firms hire heterogeneous workers but must offer all workers insurance benefits under similar terms. In equilibrium, some firms offer free health insurance, some require an employee premium payment and some do not offer insurance. Making the employee contribution...

Most integration programs transfer students between schools within districts. In this paper, we study the impact of Metco, a long-running desegregation program that sends mostly black students out of the Boston public school district to attend schools in more affluent suburban districts. We...

We examine the effect of teenage childbearing on the adult outcomes of a sample of women who gave birth, miscarried or had an abortion as teenagers. If miscarriages are (conditionally) random, then if all miscarriages occur before teenagers can obtain abortions, using the absence of a...

Prior to trade liberalization in the l980s, New Zealand heavily protected low-wage industries. Consequently, trade liberalization was desirable from the perspective of both traditional and new trade theories. While liberalization decreased employment in protected industries somewhat, it also...

It is costly for firms' offers to workers to be turned down both because firms must make additional offers and making offers is costly, and because capital is underused or unused. Provided that workers apply to at least two firms for jobs, there will be wage dispersion in equilibrium and some...

From the perspective of someone who is both an economist and a former school board member, this paper assesses the use of test-score data by policy-makers and academic researchers. The absence of interval scales often makes the interpretation of test-scores and the indicators derived from them...

One of the potential strengths of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act enacted in 2002 is that the law requires the production of an enormous amount of data, particularly from tests, which, if used properly, might help us improve education. As an economist and as someone who served 13 years on...

We show that among workers whose network is weaker than formal (nonnetwork) channels, those finding a job through the network should have higher wages than those finding a job through formal channels. Moreover, this wage differential is decreasing in network strength. We test these implications...