Since 2000, US real average wages have either stagnated or declined while Canadian average wages increased by almost 10%. We investigate the role of the Canadian resource boom in explaining this difference. We construct a model of wage setting that allows for spillover effects of a resource boom on wages in non-resource intensive locations and formulate an empirical specification based on that model. A key feature of this (and other) resource booms was the prevalence of long distance commuting - working in a resource location but residing in another community. The core idea in our model is that the expansion of the value of the commuting option during the boom allowed non-commuters to bargain higher wages. We find that wages do rise in areas with more long distance commuting. Combining these spillover effects with bargaining spillover effects in resource boom locations, we can account for 49% of the increase in the real mean wage in Canada between 2000 and 2012. We find similar effects of long distance commuting on wages in the US but the resource boom was less salient in the US and the effect on wages was one-tenth of that in Canada. Our results have implications for other papers measuring the impacts of resource booms on wages in surrounding areas. Our main finding is that long-distance commuting can integrate regions in a way that spreads the benefits and costs of a boom across the economy.

We postulate that increasing income inequality intensifies the degree of positive assortative mating (PAM). Our key motivation stems from Fernández, Guner and Knowles (2005), who develop a model in which equilibrium levels of PAM increase with skill premium (i.e. inequality) because of the higher cost of “marrying down”. We utilise a panel dataset of US marriage markets from 1990 to 2010 to investigate the presence and strength of the association between various income inequality measures and PAM at different education levels using fixed effects and instrumental variable models. Our instruments follow the Bartik specification, which averages national wages across industries using state-level industry employment shares as weights to construct a measure of state-level wages that is plausibly unrelated to state-level shocks. We find a positive and statistically significant impact of inequality on PAM, but only for individuals with at least some college education. This relationship is stronger for individuals with four or more years of college education compared to those with less than four years of college education. A one standard deviation increase in inequality is sufficient to move a state with median PAM levels to levels beyond the 75th percentile.

Purpose
This chapter assesses how gender and disability status intersect to shape employment and earnings outcomes for working-age adults in the United States. Methodology/approach
The research pools five years of data from the 2010
2015 Current Population Survey to compare employment and earnings outcomes for men and women with different types of physical and cognitive disabilities to those who specifically report work-limiting disabilities. Findings
The findings show that people with different types of limitations, including those not specific to work, experienced large disparities in employment and earnings and these outcomes also varied for men and women. The multiplicative effects of gender and disability on labor market outcomes led to a hierarchy of disadvantage where women with cognitive or multiple disabilities experienced the lowest employment rates and earnings levels. However, within groups, disability presented the strongest negative effects for men, which created a smaller gender wage gap among people with disabilities. Originality/value
This chapter provides quantitative evidence for the multiplicative effects of gender and disability status on employment and earnings. It further extends an intersectional framework by highlighting the gendered aspects of the ways in which different disabilities shape labor market inequalities. Considering multiple intersecting statuses demonstrates how the interaction between disability type and gender produce distinct labor market outcomes.

Critics have long claimed that when the law regulates police behavior it inadvertently reduces officer aggressiveness, thereby increasing crime. This hypothesis has taken on new significance in recent years as prominent politicians and law enforcement leaders have argued that increased oversight of police officers in the wake of the events in Ferguson, Missouri has led to an increase in national crime rates. Using a panel of American law enforcement agencies and difference in- difference regression analyses, this Article tests whether the introduction of public scrutiny or external regulation is associated with changes in crime rates. To do this, this Article relies on an original dataset of all police departments that have been subject to federally mandated reform under 42 U.S.C. 14141-the most invasive form of modern American police regulation. This Article finds that the introduction of § 14141 regulation was associated with a statistically significant uptick in some crime rates, relative to unaffected municipalities. This uptick in crime was concentrated in the years immediately after federal intervention and diminished over time. This finding suggests that police . . .

This article reviews recent research regarding high-skilled migration. We adopt a data-driven perspective, bringing together and describing several ongoing research streams that range from the construction of global mi- gration databases, to the legal codification of national policies regarding high-skilled migration, to the analysis of patent data regarding cross-border inventor movements. A common theme throughout this research is the im- portance of agglomeration economies for explaining high-skilled migration. We highlight some key recent findings and outline major gaps in the litera- ture that we hope will be tackled in the near future.

The landscape of gerontological research, practice, and policy is shifting as the U.S. older adult population becomes increasingly diverse, including by sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. By harmonizing available data across population-based studies (e.g., California Health Interview Survey, 2014; Gates & Newport, 2012; Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 2014; Washington State Department of Health, 2014), we estimate that 2.4% of older adults in the United States currently self-identify as LGBT, accounting for 2.7 million adults aged 50 and older, including 1.1 million aged 65 and older. The population will increase dramatically over the next few decades given the significant aging of the population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014); by 2060 the number of adults aged 50 and older who self-identify as LGBT will likely more than double to over five million. Recent U.S. population-based data have also shown that many individuals who do not identify as a sexual or gender minority report same-sex sexual behavior or attraction. In one recent study, for example, while just more than 5% of Americans aged 1844 self-identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, 12% had engaged in same-sex sexual behavior (men who had sex with men, and women who had sex with women), and 13% were sexually attracted to members of the same sex (Copen, Chandra, & Febo-Vazquez, 2016). Thus, the total number of older adults who self-identify as LGBT, have engaged in same-sex sexual behavior or romantic relationships, and/or are attracted to members of the same sex is estimated to increase to more than 20 million by 2060.

Ever since social scientists became interested in understanding intergroup dynamics, the topic of the “middle class” and its distinction from other groups in society became the central feature of a theoretical and empirical research enterprise. In this overview essay we discuss the beliefs, values and behavioral tendencies attributed to American middle class beliefs, and discuss their implications for understanding class-related norms and values. We end with a reflection over the historical trends that impact societal norms and the definition of middle class in the American society

Using 48,403 observations from the National Survey of College Graduates, this article examines the racial salary disparity between Black and White college graduates. We find that academic major and first higher education institution influence one’s final occupation, which in turn affects the salary disparity between Blacks and Whites. We suggest that public policy builds awareness among high school students aspiring for college of the importance of preparing for specific academic majors that lead to occupations expected to maintain an earnings premium.

We work from a minority stress perspective to theorize health disparities across union status at the intersection of sexual minority status, race-ethnicity, and gender. We use pooled data from the Integrated National Health Interview Surveys (1997–2014) to assess a wide range of health outcomes, including self-rated physical health, psychological distress, and health behaviors. Results suggest that same-sex cohabitors face substantial health disadvantages relative to different-sex married individuals, with little variation by race-ethnicity and gender. Fewer health differences are found for same-sex cohabitors in comparison with both different-sex cohabitors and unpartnered singles, although greater variation by gender and race-ethnicity is found across these comparisons. This study highlights the importance of integrating intersectionality and minority stress theories to guide future research examining sexual minority health disparities. Results suggest that the sexual minority health disadvantage, as well as the potential health boost of same-sex marriage, may depend on the intersection of race-ethnicity and gender.

The purpose of this study is to gauge the influence of local/regional labor market conditions on educational outcomes, using human capital and dual labor markets as guiding theories. To gain an understanding of how growth in multiple labor market tiers and various occupation types influence local human capital development as well as students’ decisions to invest in their own human capital; two modeling approaches are utilized. First, the association between local employment growth by labor market tier and aggregate human capital development is evaluated. Second, occupations found to significantly influence local human capital development are transferred to models gauging the educational attainment of individual respondents. Results indicate primary market employment growth has a positive impact on the number of county residents with a high school, Associate’s, and Bachelor’s degree. At the individual-level, primary market growth increased the likelihood of earning a high school and Associate’s degree but did not influence the odds of earning a Bachelor’s degree.

This paper studies the effects of a large-scale industrial policy implemented in 1930s Mississippi on contemporaneous and modern-day labor market outcomes. Attracted by unprecedented government incentives under Mississippis Balance Agriculture with Industry (BAWI) Program, 13 large manufacturing plants located in the state between 1936 and 1940. Using difference-indifferences and synthetic control matching techniques, I estimate that counties that received these plants experienced an over 15% increase in female labor force participation on average in the short run. Moreover, these effects persisted decades into the future, well after many of the original companies ceased operations in Mississippi. I also find suggestive evidence of an increase in educational attainment among women in counties where BAWI investment occurred. The results highlight the potential for even transitory government interventions to have long-lived effects on labor markets.

An important question aside from outright discrimination is whether poor underlying race relations in an area might create a chilling effect on decision-making for minorities. To explore this, we examine homeownership among recent movers, which is a more costly decision to reverse than renting. From 2012 onward, there were a series of high-profile events in the U.S. related to police brutality which highlighted racial tension. Using Google Trends, we characterize a locality’s underlying racial climate based on search interest in these charged events. Using data from the American Community Survey prior to any of these flare ups, we show that the ownership decision for African-Americans is responsive to the racial climate; African-American home ownership in localities with the most charged racial climates is 12 percent lower than in the least charged racial climates.

This article explores the dynamic tension at play between fair organizers, local community members, and larger commercial and cultural forces through an examination of selected premiums at the Franklin County Fair in northwestern Vermont. A record book held at the University of Vermont’s Special Collections documents the Franklin County Agricultural Society and its successor, the Franklin County Agricultural and Mechanical Society, from its founding in 1844 to 1889. This study illustrates how the relative importance of agricultural and domestic labor were highlighted and renegotiated in the premium list for this community during the second half of the nineteenth century. As Leslie Prosterman, in a study of modern agricultural fairs, has noted, “by locating in a time and space dedicated to a special purpose related to but removed from everyday life and by adopting stylized procedures, judging and exhibition reorder, highlight, and comment on the everyday occupational and domestic experiences of fairgoers’ lives.”

We compile data on the locations of abortion providers and enforcement of parental involvement laws to document dramatic increases in the distances minors must travel if they wish to obtain an abortion without involving a parent or judge. Between 1992 – the year the U.S. Supreme Court established the undue burden standard in Planned Parenthood v. Casey – and present, the average distance to a confidential abortion has increased from 55 to 454 miles. Using both double and triple-difference estimation strategies, we estimate the effects of parental involvement laws, and allow these effects to vary with the distances minors might travel to avoid them. Our results confirm previous findings that parental involvement laws did not increase teen births in the pre-Casey era, and provide new evidence that in more recent decades they have increased teen birth by an average of 3 percent. The estimated effects are increasing in avoidance distance to the point that a confidential abortion is more than a day's drive away, and also are 4 to 6 times greater in counties with high rates of poverty. We estimate that over the past 25 years, parental involvement laws have resulted in half a million additional teen births.

State governments have a long history of providing income tax relief to their elderly constituents. Our research investigates the current distributional and revenue effects of these tax breaks, as well as the economic status of the elderly, and explores how these measures have changed since 1990. Using data from the 1990 Integrated Public Use Microdata Series and the 2013 American Community Survey, combined with the TAXSIM calculator, we calculate current state income tax liabilities and revenues and simulate the effects of removing all age-related tax breaks. Our analyses reveal that the economic well-being of the elderly has grown substantially relative to the nonelderly and that state tax breaks primarily benefit the middle- and upper-income elderly. Revenue costs of these tax breaks have also grown substantially, and their modest and mixed effects on income equality, measured by changes in the Gini, cast doubt on equity as a justification.

The homeownership rate in California has trailed the rest of the U.S. by about 10 percentage points for decades. Detailed demographic projections suggest the “California homeownership gap” is likely to remain stable until at least 2030, even as homeownership rates drift down in California and nationwide. The changing racial and ethnic mix of the California population will reduce the gap, as will the entry of young families into homeownership that were not affected by the housing crisis. A factor working in the opposite direction is the eventual replacement of older California homeowners with high homeownership rates by current baby boomers and members of Generations X and Y, who suffered large declines in homeownership during the crisis. To mitigate the long-run decline in California homeownership, families hit hard by the housing crisis require balance sheet repair. Housing supply-side reforms that make housing more affordable also could help

With the introduction of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), especially the extension of dependent care coverage, we have assumed that the increase in health insurance coverage will increase access to health care. However, there are costs associated with having health insurance and the cost of health care services vary depending on the health insurance benefits package. So, the question remains, did the increase in health insurance coverage increase access to health care? The objective of this study was to examine the association between health insurance type and the delay in health care due to cost, utilizing self-reported insurance status and self-reported delay in health care due to cost after adjusting for socio-demographic factors and the influence of race and gender on this relationship, as well as any changes between 2010 and 2014. Using 2010 to 2014 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data, I assessed the association between delay in health care due to cost and health insurance via multiple logistic regressions with 95% confidence intervals and a stratified analysis for gender and ethnicity. Delay in health care due to cost decreased between 2010 and 2014. Also, uninsured young adults were more likely to report a delay in health care due to cost. Meanwhile, young adults with Medicaid and Military insurance were less likely to report a delay in health care due to cost. Regardless of ethnicity or gender, young uninsured adults were more likely to delay health care due to cost compared to those with private insurance. This study suggests an association between health insurance and delay in health care due to cost post ACA. There have been efforts to increase insurance coverage and reduce the financial barrier to accessing health care; however, there may be public health and policy implications for public health and policy, research, outreach, education, and policy development that may reduce barriers to health care access.

We examine immigrant entrepreneurship and the survival and growth of immigrant-founded businesses over time relative to native-founded companies. Our work quantifies immigrant contributions to new firm creation in a wide variety of fields and using multiple definitions. While significant research effort has gone into understanding the economic impact of immigration into the United States, comprehensive data for quantifying immigrant entrepreneurship are difficult to assemble. We combine several restricted-access U.S. Census Bureau data sets to create a unique longitudinal data platform that covers 1992-2008 and many states. We describe differences in the types of businesses initially formed by immigrants and their medium-term growth patterns. We also consider the relationship of these outcomes to the immigrants’ age at arrival to the United States.

Hispanic workers are a significant and growing portion of the US labor force. It is therefore essential to understand the pattern of Hispanic immigrants’ incorporation into the US labor force and the factors underlying or impeding successful incorporation trajectories. This dissertation investigates how the job quality of Hispanic immigrants compares to that of US‐born workers in 2003 and in 2010, and evaluates competing explanations of the differences in job quality between these two groups of workers. I also investigate whether differences in job quality are attributable to Hispanic ethnicity or immigrant status by comparing the job quality of Hispanic immigrants with US‐ born Hispanic workers. In pursuing these research goals, I develop multidimensional measures of . . .

Despite headline-grabbing accounts of the ‘Man-cession’ and childless metropolitan-dwelling women who earn more than men, the gender wage gap remains persistent. The spatiality of the gender wage gap has received little attention, despite geographers’ historic concerns with patterns of inequality under economic shifts and economic sociologists’ increasingly geographic focus. In this paper, I ask whether, where, and how the gender wage gap has changed with the recession. Using American Community Survey pooled surveys for 2005-7 and 2011-13, I model counterfactual wage distributions for full-time male and female workers in the top 100 metropolitan areas of the U.S., controlling for education, age, and experience. Results indicate that gender inequality is spatially polarizing, both across the wage distribution and across the country, and that the recession exacerbates this pattern. Gender gaps decline most in the Rustbelt, but show relative increases in many Western metropolitan areas (especially the Pacific Northwest and northern California). Further, the declines are mostly amongst below-median earning workers, whereas the . . .