This paper investigates the fluidity of ethnic identity and the extent to which individuals experience a change in reported ethnicity during their lifetime in the historicalU.S. context. First, we document that approximately 21 to 22% of males identified as mixed race and 16 to 17% of males identified as black will pass for white at somepoint in their lifetime. Second, we show that passing is almost always accompanied by geographic relocation and typically occurs when an individual is twenty to thirty years of age. Third, by tracing an individual over time, we find that a significant number of those who pass for white will later un-pass. Finally, imputed wage data suggeststhat the probability of passing is positively correlated with the black-white wage gap in the county of birth. Our results indicate race is fluid, race change is a quantitatively important phenomenon and likely to be endogenous to economic variables.

Warum teilen Paare in manchen Ländern bezahlte Arbeit egalitärer auf als in anderen? Mittels einer Mehrebenenanalyse von Daten der Europäischen Arbeitskräfteerhebung und des amerikanischen Current Population Surveys, denen wir Länderinformationen zugespielt haben, untersuchen wir in diesem Artikel, inwiefern Steuer- und Sozialgesetzgebung, nationale Arbeitsmarktcharakteristika und Geschlechternormen Arbeitszeitunterschiede innerhalb von heterosexuellen Paaren beeinflussen. Wir können zeigen, dass die Aufteilung von Erwerbsarbeit zwischen Partnern in den Ländern geringer ausfällt, in denen Einkommen individuell besteuert werden, Kinderbetreuung gut ausgebaut ist, Männer und Frauen ähnliche Stundenlöhne für gleiche Arbeit bekommen und in denen egalitäre Geschlechternormen vorherrschen. Mit diesen Erkenntnissen liefert der Artikel einen wichtigen Beitrag zur aktuellen politischen Diskussion um „Partnerschaftlichkeit“ und stärkt unser Verständnis für fortbestehende Geschlechterungleichheiten auf dem Arbeitsmarkt.

During the nineties of the last century, historians and computer scientists created together a research agenda around the life cycle of historical information. It comprised the tasks of creation, design, enrichment, editing, retrieval, analysis and presentation of historical information with help of information technology. They also identified a number of problems and challenges in this field, some of them closely related to semantics and meaning. In this survey paper we study the joint work of historians and computer scientists in the use of Semantic Web methods and technologies in historical research. We analyse to what extent these contributions help in solving the open problems in the agenda of historians, and we describe open challenges and possible lines of research pushing further a still young, but promising, historical Semantic Web.

We investigate unemployment due to mismatch in the United States over the past three and a half decades. We propose an accounting framework that allows us to estimate the contribution of each of the frictions that generated labor market mismatch. Barriers to job mobility account for the largest part of mismatch unemployment, with a smaller role for barriers to worker mobility. We find little contribution of wage-setting frictions to mismatch.

Slave property rights yielded a source of collateral as well as a coerced labor force. Using data from Dun and Bradstreet linked to the 1860 census and slave schedules in Maryland, we find that slaveowners were more likely to start businesses prior to the uncompensated 1864 emancipation, even conditional on total wealth and human capital, and this advantage disappears after emancipation. We argue that this is due to the superiority of slave wealth as a source of collateral for credit rather than any advantage in production. The collateral dimension of slave property magnifies its importance to historical American economic development.

For more than 30 years, the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) has served as the states affordable housing leader, assuring that Ohioans with low- and moderate-incomes have access to safe, quality and affordable housing. OHFA uses federal and state resources to fund fixed-rate mortgage loans and provide financing for the development of affordable rental housing. The Agency relies on its partnerships with the private and public sectors and nonprofit organizations to serve homebuyers, renters and populations with special housing needs. Since 1983, OHFA has empowered more than 149,500 households throughout Ohio to achieve the dream of homeownership. As the allocating agency for the federal Low-Income Housing Credit program, OHFA has assisted with the financing of more than 104,500 affordable rental housing units since 1987.

This paper examines the impact of residential density and mixed land use on crime using a highresolution dataset from Chicago over the period 20082013. I employ a novel instrumental variable strategy based on the citys 1923 zoning code. I find that commercial uses lead to more street crime in their immediate vicinity, with relatively weak spillovers. However, this effect is strongly offset by density; dense mixeduse areas are actually safer than typical residential areas. Additionally, much of the commercial effect is driven by liquor stores and latehour bars. I discuss the implications for zoning policy.

This paper explores, measures and corrects digit preference in the declaration of the year of entry into the United States of those born in Mexico who migrated between 1990 and 2010. On the basis of the results of the American Community Survey (ACS), regularity indices are used for the years of declaration ending in 0 and 5, showing that digit preference accounts for up to 46% of the declaration of adjacent years. Through the correction method used, the rectified distribution retains the original pattern of the series and preserves the totals per five-year period and decade as well as the cumulative percentages and annual averages.

We use the adoption of U.S. state-level labor protection laws to study the causal effect of employment protection on corporate investment and growth. We find that, following the adoption of these laws, capital expenditures decrease and investment rates become less sensitive to changes in investment opportunities. Further, when firms do invest, these projects tend to have higher expected rates of return. These findings are consistent with theories in which greater employment protection discourages investment by making projects more irreversible. Last, we document that lower investment rates following the adoption of these laws are also associated with lower sales growth rates. Overall, our findings imply that greater employment protection can have a significant effect on corporate investment decisions and growth.

Although people with disabilities have poorer employment outcomes, on average, than do people without disabilities, some of them fare relatively well in the labor market. To learn more about the individual characteristics associated with positive employment outcomes among people with disabilities, we use data from the 20092011 American Community Survey to examine differences in employment outcomes by demographic and other individual characteristics in a multivariable framework. Controlling for all other individual characteristics, we find the employment gap between individuals with and without disabilities is smaller among those in their 20s and 60s relative to the middle aged, Asians relative to Whites, Hispanics relative to non-Hispanics, married individuals, individuals with higher levels of educational attainment, and women. Overall, results suggest that policies and practices designed to improve employment outcomes among people with disabilities should consider how individual characteristics interact with disability as challenges to or facilitators of employment success.

Over the past thirty years, crime rates in cities across the United States initially increased and then declined precipitously, in many cases, reaching historic lows. At the same time, the share of the foreign born among the U.S. population has increased rapidly, with the foreign-born Mexican share of the population quadrupling since 1980. The majority of the increase in immigration has taken place since 1990 and coincides with the largest decline in U.S. crime rates since crime has been reliably measured. Research suggests that immigration has either played no role in this historic decline in crime (Butcher and Piehl 1998; MacDonald, Hipp and Gill 2012; Chalfin 2013) or has possibly contributed importantly to the decline (Ousey and Kubrin 2009; MacDonald and Saunders 2012). In particular, researchers have pointed to weak crosssectional relationships between immigrant concentrations and crime at the neighborhood level and small and often even negative correlations between changes in a city’s immigrant share and changes in a city’s crime rate over time. A recent exception to the entirety of the extant literature is that of Spenkuch (2013) who, in a careful analysis, studies the relationship between immigration and crime at the county level and concludes that there is a positive relationship between immigration, particularly Hispanic immigration, and instrumental crimes such as robbery and burglary. Despite the recent surge in academic interest this topic, the literature remains unsatisfying in several ways. First, the available literature rarely disaggregates the effects of immigration on crime by nationality. As Mexican immigrants comprise over one third of all immigrants to the United States and over half of all undocumented immigrants (Passel and Cohn 2009), assessing the effects of Mexican immigration on crime is of particular relevance. Second, prior literature has examined only the effect of immigration on crimes reported to police. To the extent that immigrants are less likely to report crimes, an alternative explanation for a negative relationship between immigration and crime in the data is that immigration drives down crime reporting (Butcher and Piehl 1998). To address this issue, I provide an auxiliary analysis of the effect of immigration on the rate at which crimes are reported to police, using MSAlevel data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). This analysis suggests that differences in crime reporting rates are unlikely to explain negative correlations between immigration and crime in the extant literature. Finally, regressionbased estimates of the effect of immigration on crime can only be ascribed a causal interpretation under stringent assumptions regarding the inability or unwillingness of migrants to adjust the timing and destination of their arrival in the United States in response to social and economic conditions in U.S. destinations. I describe a novel identification strategy that plausibly addresses this issue.

Every year the US Postal Service makes hundreds of changes to ZIP Code boundaries: dissolving existing ZIP Codes, establishing new ones, or realigning the boundaries between established ZIP Codes. These changes do not occur randomly, but are concentrated in areas experiencing both population collapse and rapid population growth. Failing to account for these boundary changes over time, then, introduces systematic measurement error in identifying the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of geographic areas. In this paper, we describe our creation of a data tool that will allow researchers to account for changes in ZIP Code boundaries between 1990 and 2010. This enables the linkage of consistent geographic units, along with their social, economic, and demographic characteristics, over time. We believe that the existence of this data tool will allow more researchers to more effectively incorporate ZIP Codes into their research, as cases, as contextual factors for fixed effects analyses using micro‐level observations as cases, or as the “Level 2” or macro level in multilevel models.

This article addresses measurement challenges that have stymied contemporary research on the working poor. The authors review previously used measurement schemes and discuss conceptual assumptions that underlie each. Using 2013 March Current Population Survey data, the authors estimate national- and race-specific rates of working poverty using more than 125 measures. The authors then evaluate the association between each measure and a latent construct of working poverty using factor analysis and develop a working poverty index derived from these results. Finally, the authors estimate multivariate regression models to identify key social and demographic risk factors for poverty among workers. The authors national estimates of working poverty range from 2% to nearly 19% and are highly sensitive to alternative assumptions. The authors analyses find that the latent construct is most highly correlated with empirical measures of working poverty that include part-time or part-year employment and that use poverty income thresholds that include both the poor and near poor. Crude rates and conditional risks of poverty among workers vary considerably among racial groups. This article provides a conceptual and empirical baseline for decisions about how best to estimate the magnitude and composition of America's working poor population.

Income inequality has risen dramatically in the United States since at least 1980. This paper examines the role that tax policies play in mitigating income inequality. The analysis primarily focuses on state taxes, but also explores federal taxes. Two empirical approaches are employed. First, cross-sectional estimates compare before-tax and after-tax inequality across the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Second, inequality estimates across time are calculated to assess the evolution of the effects of tax policies. The results from the first approach indicate that the tax code reduces income inequality substantially in all states. All of this compression of the income distribution is attributable to federal taxes as state taxes, on average, widen the after-tax income distribution slightly. Nevertheless, there is substantial cross-state variation with some states tax codes meaningfully reducing income inequality and others significantly increasing inequality. We also document that state EITC programs can significantly mitigate income inequality, that sales tax exemptions for food and clothing moderately reduce income inequality, and that state-levied gasoline taxes work to increase inequality. The results of the second empirical approach indicate that the mitigating influence of taxes on income inequality has increased since the early 1980s, with two-thirds of the increase due to the federal tax code and the remaining one-third due to state taxes. The increase at the state level is due mostly to changes to the tax code. In contrast, at the federal level the majority of the increase is due to the widening of the pre-tax wage distribution interacting with the progressive structure of the tax code.

Do severe economic downturns increase intergenerational economic mobility by breaking links between generations, or do they instead reduce mobility by limiting opportunity for the young? To answer this question, I estimate rates of intergenerational mobility during the Great Depression in American cities that experienced downturns of varying severity. I create two new historical samples, digitizing and transcribing archival data on individual earnings and linking fathers to sons before and after the Depression. To build these longitudinal samples, I develop a machine learning approach to census matching that enables me to link individuals accurately and efficiently between censuses in the absence of unique identification numbers. I find that the Great Depression lowered intergenerational mobility for sons growing up in cities hit by large downturns. These results are not driven by place-specific mobility differences: for the generation before the Depression, mobility between 1900 and 1920 is unrelated to future downturn intensity. Differential directed migration is a key mechanism to explain my results. Although sons fled distressed cities at similar rates, the sons of richer fathers migrated to locations that had suffered less severe Depression effects. The differences in rates of intergenerational mobility for sons in the most and least Depression-affected cities are comparable to the differences between the United States and Sweden today

Insurance coverage expansions have been linked to multiple benefits for individuals, communities, and the state. California is taking important steps to broaden affordable options for undocumented immigrants, who comprise a substantial share of uninsured state residents. California will soon extend Medi-Cal coverage to undocumented children and already provides it to some low-income undocumented immigrants. Future options may include comprehensive Medi-Cal and unsubsidized access to Covered California, the states health insurance exchange. About half of Californias undocumented immigrants have incomes low enough to qualify for Medi-Cal should coverage be offered to them. Their highest concentrations are in Los Angeles, Orange, and Santa Clara Counties, the Inland Empire, and the San Joaquin Valley. Those with incomes too high for Medi-Cal are concentrated in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, where premium costs are highest. Even with access to Covered California, lack of subsidies will keep many of them from coverage. Studies have shown that uninsured families are more likely to suffer from poor health and financial hardships. Without coverage, Californias undocumented adults will continue to rely on county indigent programs and safety net services, adding pressures to these local entities.

Social enterprises are financially viable businesses that put social objectives at the forefront of operations. This study provides some of the first evidence on the impacts, costs, and benefits of social enterprises, using information from seven organizations that intentionally hire individuals with severe employment barriers. Results suggest that social enterprises have the potential to create value: the average dollar invested in a social enterprise produces benefits valued between $0.42 and $1.31 for taxpayers and at least $1.34 for society as a whole, implying a 34 percent social return on investment. Furthermore, the returns to society of converting a profit-driven business into a social enterprise exceed 100 percent.

Objectives. Guided by the concept of “aging in place” and potential policy implications, the study analyzed naturally occurring retirement communities (NORCs; 40% or greater house owners and renters aged 65 years and older) and whether there were spatiotemporal patterns in Ohio between 2000 and 2010. Method. Data were derived from the 2000 and 2010 census tracts. Geovisualization was used to visually examine the distribution of NORCs in 2000 and 2010. Global Moran’s I was used to quantify the spatial distribution of NORCs in Ohio and Local Moran’s I was used to identify clusters of NORCs (i.e., hot spots). Results. The number of NORCs slightly decreased despite the overall increase of the older population from 2000 to 2010. NORCs were identified in one of the 3 most populous counties (i.e., Cuyahoga) and its neighboring counties. A number of hot spots were identified in Cuyahoga County (among Ohio’s most populous and NORC-rich counties), both in 2000 and 2010. There were different patterns including emerging, disappearing, and enduring NORCs and disproportionate distributions of NORCs across the state between 2000 and 2010. Discussion. Locating NORCs could aid governments to create “aging in place” sensitive policies to address issues of independence, social care, health care, volunteerism, and community participation.

This paper explores how urban structure and building height can play an important role for agglomeration and the consequent productivity advantages, looking at the role of skyscraper in influencing the concentration of establishments in U.S. cities. In addition to productivity advantages associated to this extreme form of density, skyscraper can be a particularly attractive location for firms because of the associated gains in prestige from being located in a tall landmark building. Geological and technological instruments are used to determine the effect of skyscraper on firms’ location, exploiting a panel of 14,114 ZIPs 147 U. S. Metropolitan Areas from 2000 to 2012. One of the most important results is that the effect of newly completed skyscraper on agglomeration differs between sectors. The attraction of establishments on the ZIP codes where tall buildings will be completed has an important anticipatory component. Evidence of small congestion effects cannot be rejected. Exploiting the variation of firm’s density produced by tall buildings, my estimation suggests that agglomeration economies provided by tall buildings might provide an additional 20 percent increase in productivity.

There have the technology best-known been periodic were early warnings going example to in wipe is the the out last Luddite large two centuries numbers movement that of middle automation of the early and new technology were going to wipe out class large numbers of middle class jobs. The best-known early example is the Luddite movement of the early 19th century, in which a group of English textile artisans protested the automation of textile production by seeking to destroy some of the machines. A lesser known but more recent example is the concern over "The Automation Jobless," as they were called in the title of a TIME magazine story of February 24, 1961: