We consider a competitive equilibrium growth model where technological progress is embodied into new jobs which are assigned to workers of different skills. In every period workers decide whether to actively participate in the labor market and if so how many hours to work on the job. Balanced growth requires that the job technology is complementary with the worker's total labor input in the job, which is jointly determined by his skill and his working hours. Since lower skilled workers can supply longer hours, we show that the equilibrium features positive assortative matching (higher skilled workers are assigned to better jobs) only if differences in consumption are small relative to differences in worker skills. When the pace of technological progress accelerates, wage inequality increases and workers participate less often in the labor market but supply longer hours on the job. This mechanism can explain why, as male wage inequality has increased in the US, labor force participation of male workers of different skills has fallen while their working hours have increased.

The Regression Kink (RK) design is an increasingly popular empirical method, with more than 20 studies circulated using RK in last 5 years since the initial circulation of Card, Lee, Pei and Weber (2012). We document empirically that these estimates, which typically use local linear regression, are highly sensitive to curvature in the underlying relationship between the outcome and the assignment variable. As an alternative inference procedure, motivated by randomization inference, we propose that researchers construct a distribution of placebo estimates in regions without a policy kink. We apply our procedure to three empirical RK applications- two administrative UI datasets with true policy kinks and the 1980 Census, which has no policy kinks- and we find that statistical significance based on conventional p-values may be spurious. In contrast, our permutation test reinforces the asymptotic inference results of a recent Regression Discontinuity study and a Difference-in-Difference study. Finally, we propose estimating RK models with a modified cubic splines framework and test the performance of different estimators in a simulation exercise. Cubic specifications- in particular recently proposed robust estimators (Calonico, Cattaneo and Titiunik 2014)- yield short interval lengths with good coverage rates.

Previous studies have examined the family gap in pay the differential in hourly wages between women with children and women without children - at a point in time, across groups, or across countries, but we know little about whether, and how, the family gap has changed over time. We provide new evidence on this question for the United States from 1977 to 2007, using data from the 1978, 1988, 1998, and 2008 March Current Population Survey and a consistent set of methods to adjust for selection into motherhood and employment. We find that for women overall, after accounting for selection into motherhood, the penalty to motherhood in 2007 is similar to 1977. However, the results differ by race/ethnicity, education level, and marital status; most importantly, we find that the magnitude of the family gap has declined in recent decades for married mothers, but increased for never married mothers.

Do wealth shocks affect the health of the elderly in developed countries? The economic literature is sceptical about such effects which have so far only been found for poor retirees in poor countries. In this paper I show that wealth shocks also matter for the health of wealthy retirees in the US. I exploit the booms and busts in the US stock market as a natural experiment that generated considerable gains and losses in the wealth of stock-holding retirees. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study I construct wealth shocks as the interaction of stock holdings with stock market changes. These constructed wealth shocks are highly predictive of changes in reported wealth. And they strongly affect health outcomes. A 10% wealth shock leads to an improvement of 2-3% of a standard deviation in physical health, mental health and survival rates. Effects are heterogeneous across physical health conditions, with most pronounced effects for the incidence of high blood pressure, smaller effects for heart problems and no effects for arthritis, diabetes, lung diseases and cancer. The comparison with the cross-sectional relationship of wealth and health suggests that the estimated effects of wealth shocks are larger than the long-run wealth elasticity of health.

This study looks at the retail industry as it is today for the 7.2 million American women employed in its ranks, as it will look in 2022 if present trends continue, and as it could be if the nations largest retailerscompanies employing at least 1,000 workersraised wages and improved employee schedules.

Purpose. Describe patterns of health care utilization among vulnerable subgroups of an underserved population and identify populations that could benefit from interventions to reduce health care costs and improve quality of care. Methods. Health Information Exchange data focused on underserved patients was used to estimate the risk of an emergency department (ED) or inpatient (IP) visit among vulnerable patients. Results. Approximately 20.9% of the population was vulnerable, with behavioral health being the most predominant. Homeless, disabled, and severe behavioral health patients had an increased risk of ED utilization. Behavioral health, disabled, and near elderly patients had an increased risk of IP utilization. Inpatient risk was even greater for patients with multiple vulnerabilities. Conclusions. Improved primary care services are needed to address both the mental and physical needs of vulnerable populations, particularly people with severe behavioral health conditions. Improved access to services may help reduce the costly burden of providing hospital- based care.

This chapter provides a parsimonious overview of the trends in various well-being dimensions covered in the previous chapters by constructing a composite index of well-being. It discusses the crucial problem of choosing a set of weights to calculate such a composite index. Related problems include normalisation of individual indices and dealing with missing observations. The chapter discusses the advantages of various options, and their implications for the final results. It finds that empirically a wide range of aggregation methods generate comparable results. They all indicate that progress in well-being was commonplace since the early 20th century, with the possible exception of Sub-Saharan Africa. It is also found that since the 1970s between-country inequality in composite well-being is lower than in GDP per capita, while being more pronounced in the period before.

As the number of Latinos in the United States (15.8 percent of the population) surpasses that of African Americans, scholars have accelerated the debate over how the new largest racial/ethnic minority will influence the traditional black/white color line.1 The nuevo south has become a major destination for immigrants since the 1980s.2Three developments have shaped this transformation: global economic restructuring, which created high demand for low-wage workers in the South; mass immigration of Latinos; and immigration laws and policies at federal and local levels. This essay examines the shift more closely, looking at how Latino immigration is transforming categories of race in the Atlanta metro area.

Since the 20th century, U.S. health spending has continuously increased, but the residents’ life expectancy has not reached the average level of OECD countries. In this paper, hazard duration models are built; primary demographic, geographic, socioeconomic and healthcare factors are taken into consideration. The main purpose of this paper is to study the effect of these factors on an individual’s risk of mortality and life expectancy. We build a general model and two gender-specific models. Females are affected by relative deprivation, a measure of their position in the income distribution, much more than males. The effect of family income is only statistically significant for male. In terms of healthcare factors, we find, when people get older, the health spending will have more beneficial (for men) or at least less negative effects (for women) on the life span.

Research has consistently shown that caring, nurturing and secure family relationships are the foundations of healthy growth and development. In addition, when individualsgrow up in families where there are positive family relationships, they are more likely to have positive family relationships when they form their own families. Unfortunately, the reverse is also true. For example, in Arizona boys who witness domestic violence are twice as likely to abuse their own partners and children when they become adults.

The recent surge in obesity prevalence in the United States creates a huge concern in public and this paper mainly focuses on the economic side of this phenomenon, investigating the relationship between BMI and socio-economic-demographic factors in the United States, using data from Integrated Health Interview Series. Our research aims to improve the existing literature on two main aspects. First of all, we take care of the two identification issues: the endogeneity associated with income and different responses of BMI to an income increment across various quantiles of income distribution. Our empirical results show that SES indeed determines weight and obesity levels in the United States and the effect of income vary by gender and across BMI distributions. We find that the impact of income on BMI is negative and significant for females. However for males, the effect of income on obesity is nonlinear. The relationship is positive at the lower distribution tail, but negative at the upper distribution, indicating that males suffer from wage penalty at the bottom of the distribution.

Talented individuals are seen as drivers of long-term growth, but how do they realize their full potential? In this paper, I show that even in a group of high-IQ men and women, lifetime earnings are substantially influenced by their education and personality traits. I identify a previously undocumented interaction between education and traits in earnings generation, which results in important heterogeneity of the net present value of education. Personality traits directly affect men’s earnings, with effects only developing fully after age 30. These effects play a much larger role for the earnings of more educated men. Personality and IQ also influence earnings indirectly through educational choice. Surprisingly, education and personality skills do not always raise the family earnings of women in this cohort, as women with very high education and IQ are less likely to marry, and thus have less income through their husbands. To identify personality traits, I use a factor model that also serves to correct for prediction error bias, which is often ignored in the literature. This paper complements the literature on investments in education and personality traits by showing that they also have potentially high returns at the high end of the ability distribution.

In this investigation, we examined the college-readiness rates in reading, math, and both subjects for high school graduates in Texas who were (a) economically disadvantaged, (b) Limited English Proficient, or (c) enrolled in special education using archival data from the Texas Education Agency Academic Excellence Indicator System for the school years. For the 5 years of data analyzed, in both reading and math, college-readiness rates of the all-students group were higher than students who were economically disadvantaged, Limited English Proficient students, and special education students. Of the 15 statistical analyses, statistically significant findings were present, revealing 13 large effect sizes and 2 moderate effect sizes. Students who were economically disadvantaged had college-readiness rates higher than Limited English Proficient students and special education students. Students enrolled in special education had higher college-readiness rates in reading than Limited English Proficient students, but lower college-readiness rates in math. Moreover, effect sizes increased over time for math, reading, and both subjects. On the cover of a recent Forbes magazine (Noer, 2012) was the statement that, "no field operates more inefficiently than education" (cover page). Although Noer (2012) was not specifically focused on college readiness, he did summarize a common perception with the current state of education in the United States and the general lack of preparedness for college. Callan, Finney, Krist, Usdan, and Venezia (2006) shared these concerns when they proclaimed that the competitive edge of the U.S. workforce was decreasing because of a lack of college readiness.

The paper explores the diversity of gentrification that exists in three cultural districts that are the recipients of the public investment in the city of Chicago between the years 1970 and 2000. The research advances a broader analysis of gentrification consistent with the approaches advanced by Rose (1984), Beauregard (1990), Clark (2005), and Podagrosi, Vojnovic, and Pigozzi (2011). A principal components analysis and k-means cluster analysis generated a grouping of 123 census tracts in Chicago experiencing similar upgrading trajectories. A qualitative analysis was conducted on three neighborhoods captured from this one cluster, with all three neighborhoods being nodes of the public investment in the infrastructure of play in Chicago. The three case studies experienced similar trajectories of gentrification, but with considerable internal diversity. The paper suggests that the specific characteristics in the diversity of cultural professionals, and the diversity in their 'artistic-infused' districts, can provide insight into the nature of subsequent gentrifiers. Within this context, the study also explores the role of the public sector in driving gentrification in Chicago’s arts and cultural districts.

Objective:Optimal care of adults with severe acute respiratory failure requires specific resources and expertise. We sought to measure geographic access to these centers in the United States.Design:Cross-sectional analysis of geographic access to high capability severe acute respiratory failure centers in the United States. We defined high capability centers using two criteria: (1) provision of adult extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), based on either 20082013 Extracorporeal Life Support Organization reporting or provision of ECMO to 2010 Medicare beneficiaries; or (2) high annual hospital mechanical ventilation volume, based 2010 Medicare claims.Setting:Nonfederal acute care hospitals in the United States.Measurements and Main Results:We defined geographic access as the percentage of the state, region and national population with either direct or hospital-transferred access within one or two hours by air or ground transport. Of 4,822 acute care hospitals, 148 hospitals met our ECMO criteria and 447 hospitals met our mechanical ventilation criteria. Geographic access varied substantially across states and regions in the United States, depending on center criteria. Without interhospital transfer, an estimated 58.5% of the national adult population had geographic access to hospitals performing ECMO and 79.0% had geographic access to hospitals performing a high annual volume of mechanical ventilation. With interhospital transfer and under ideal circumstances, an estimated 96.4% of the national adult population had geographic access to hospitals performing ECMO and 98.6% had geographic access to hospitals performing a high annual volume of mechanical ventilation. However, this degree of geographic access required substantial interhospital transfer of patients, including up to two hours by air.Conclusions:Geographic access to high capability severe acute respiratory failure centers varies widely across states and regions in the United States. Adequate referral center access in the case of disasters and pandemics will depend highly on local and regional care coordination across political boundaries.

The Immigrant Access to Health and Human Services project maps and describes the legal and policy contexts that govern and affect immigrant access to health and human services. Through a synthesis of existing information, supplemented by in-depth visits to purposively selected sites, the study aims to identify and describe federal, state, and local program eligibility provisions related to immigrants; major barriers (such as language and family structure) to immigrants access to health and human services for which they are legally eligible; and innovative or promising practices that can help states manage their programs.

I examine how colleges respond to the introduction of broad merit aid programs. Previous research has emphasized the impact of merit aid on enrollment, student choices, and post-matriculation outcomes. Yet much less is known about how state-implemented merit aid programs, especially those funded through lottery revenues or other semi-external revenue sources, affect colleges financial decisions. I use college financial data from the Delta Cost Project database to assess how colleges respond to merit aid programs in terms of tuition and fees, institutional grants, instructional expenditures, and student services expenditures. Results suggest that colleges do not capture state-funded merit scholarships through significant increases in published tuition prices. Instead, public and private colleges react to state-funded merit scholarships with increases in expenditures on students.

Climate change represents a formidable challenge for mankind going forward. It is important to understand its effects. In this thesis I study how people adopt to climate change and argue that these responses could go a long way towards mitigating the effects of climate change. I show that in some cases accounting for such adaptation could completely reverse the negative effects of climate change. In the first chapter of my thesis I consider the general impact of adaptation without focusing on a particular adaptation mechanism studying mortality in Russia. Using regional monthly mortality and daily temperature data, I estimate a flexible nonparametric relation between weather and mortality. I find evidence that regions are better adapted to temperature ranges they experience more frequently. In particular, damages from the high heat are smaller in regions where the average summer temperature is higher and damages from cold are lower in regions where winters are usually more severe. On the basis of these estimates I propose a novel way to account for adaptation to climate change without restricting attention to one particular channel. Namely, I assume that if some currently cold region in the future will be exposed to the high heat on a regular basis, then its (future) response will be similar to the present response of a warmer region which currently is exposed to such heat on a regular basis. I illustrate my approach . . .

While the nation is now a few years removed from the financial turmoil that led to the so-called Great Recession, “crisis” is a word still much bandied about. Crisis is, after all, something that cries out for swift and decisive action—and the industry of employee benefits has had its fair share of crises. Whether it’s the looming retirement crisis some see (or see for some) on the horizon, the crippling impact of college debt on the finances (and future financial security) of younger Americans, or the health care crisis that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) was designed to forestall (or that some say is destined to create), those at nearly every point of the political spectrum are challenged with the urgency of the need to address the “crisis.” But do current circumstances actually constitute a “crisis”? A review of the dictionary definitions of crisis reveals the following perspectives: “A crucial or decisive point or situation; a turning point”; an “unstable condition, as in political, social, or economic affairs, involving an impending, abrupt or decisive change”; a “sudden change in the course of a disease or fever, toward either improvement or deterioration.”

This study used feminist intersectionality and identity theories to examine the association between residential context (racial exposure and community climate) and identity salience among 375 lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) survey respondents. I hypothesized that LGB identity salience would vary by perceived community support or rejection of LGB people such that high salience occurs in hostile and supportive communities, and low salience occurs in tolerant communities. Further, I hypothesized that LGB identity salience would vary by levels of exposure to racially similar others in one’s neighborhood. Both hypotheses were partially supported. Regression models did not reach significance, but descriptive results indicate that the relationship between community climate and LGB identity salience is different for Whites and people of color such that hostile community climate has a stronger impact on LGB identity salience for people of color compared to Whites. Additionally, descriptive analyses reveal that the relationship between racial exposure and LGB identity salience is different for Whites and people of color such that increased exposure to racially similar others is associated with lower LGB identity salience for people of color, but not for Whites. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.