This chapter presents trends in childlessness over the course of the twentieth century. It also provides a review of the antecedents and consequences of childlessness among older adults. Childlessness has only recently started to figure prominently on the research agenda of the social sciences. Previously, it was studied tangentially, or not at all.

Economists and other social scientists have long been interested in measures of income inequality. Most such measures are based on individual or household income at a moment in time. However, as a measure of the distribution of welfare, the typical income inequality measure leaves out an important dimension: the length of time over which an income or consumption stream is enjoyed. (See Becker, Philipson and Soares, 2004). Clearly two individuals with the same annual income or consumption but differing in longevity do not have the same total welfare. This paper is about differences in longevity. Specifically I seek to describe the historical evolution of longevity differences across individuals. This is motivated by the comparative neglect of the longevity component in the analysis of inequality. Think of an individual born today. He or she will have a lifetime welfare or utility related to total lifetime consumption (Y), which can be expressed . . .

Divorce rate is a poor indicator of marital instability because many marital disruptions never become divorces. This paper provides the first estimate of the rate of marital disruption in the U.S. in 1860-1948. Marital disruption rate was similar to divorce rate after the Civil War, but the two rates wildly diverged in the early 20th century. In 1900-1930, the disruption rate was as much as double the divorce rate, implying that perhaps half of all disruptions never reached the court. In the long run, the cohort rate of marital disruption increased from about 10% in the mid-1860s to about 30% in the 1940s.

State requirements that high school graduates pass exit exams were the leading edge of the movement towards standards-based reform and continue to be adopted and refined by states today. In this study, we present new empirical evidence on how exit exams influenced educational attainment and labor market experiences using data from the 2000 Census and the National Center for Education Statistics' Common Core of Data (CCD). Our results suggest that the effects of these reforms have been heterogeneous. For example, our analysis of the Census data suggests that exit exams significantly reduced the probability of completing high school, particularly for black students. Similarly, our analysis of grade-level dropout data from the CCD indicates that Minnesota's recent exit exam increased the dropout rate in urban and high-poverty school districts as well as in those with a relatively large concentration of minority students. This increased risk of dropping out was concentrated among 12th grade students. However, we also found that Minnesota's exit exam lowered the dropout rate in low-poverty and suburban school districts, particularly among students in the 10th and 11th grades. These results suggest that exit exams have the capacity to improve student and school performance but also appear to have exacerbated the inequality in educational attainment.

Both anecdotal and statistical evidence suggests that American marriage grew more unstable at the beginning of the 20th century. I investigate the causes behind this concurrent increase in marriage rate and in marital disruption rate. Economic theory from Becker (1993) suggests that causes of increased breakups occur either as a result of increased search costs (more bad matches in successive marriage cohorts) or a decrease in the value of marriage relative to outside options. I argue that although the value of singlehood increased in the early 20th century particularly for working single women) the expected benefit of marriage increased even faster, leading more couples to tie the knot. At the same time, the early age at marriage meant that spouses married with less detailed knowledge about each other, leading to a greater probability of a later disruption.

The inequality of labor market earnings in the U.S. has increased dramatically in recent decades. However, closer examination of the data reveals two distinct periods of rising inequality: 1973-89 and 1989-2005. The first period was one of diverging wages throughout the distribution, while the second period was one of polarizing wage growth. It is widely recognized that inequality of labor market earnings in the United States has increased . . .

The divorce rate is a poor indicator of marital instability because many marital disruptions never become divorces. This paper provides the first estimate of the rate of marital disruption in the U.S. in 1860 1948. In the long run, the cohort rate of marital disruption increased from about 10% in the mid-1860s to about 30% in the 1940s. Marital disruption rate was similar to the divorce rate after the Civil War but the two rates diverged wildly in the early 20th century. In 1900 1930, the disruption rate was as much as double the divorce rate, implying that perhaps half of all disruptions never reached the court.

132 female, never-married, undergraduate psychology students were surveyed regarding attitudes concerning taking their husband's surname upon marriage. It was hypothesized that approval of such a surname change would be associated with their views on (1) resource transfer from, and involvement with, in-laws, and (2) the importance of high resource potential in a candidate husband. Lesser approval of taking husband's surname was significantly predicted under OLS regression by desire for in-laws to be uninvolved with the newlywed couple and their children. The importance of resource-holding potential in a candidate husband was a marginally-significant predictor, moderated by teh women's own mothers' taking of their fathers' surnames, as well as by how emotionally close these women were to their fathers. Retaining or hyphenating one's pre-marital surname among brides marrying in Hawaii in 2006, was significantly correlated with average income of women and the average income of men in the bride's state of residence, with only that of women, however, being a marginally-significant predictor where both were used as regression predictors of retention or hyphenation. Older brides were more likely to hyphenate or retain their pre-marital surnames upon marriage in Hawaii in 2006.

Using 2000 U.S. Census data we illustrate the importance of accounting for household specialization in lesbian couples when examining the sexual orientation gap in female labor supply. Specifically, we find the labor supply gap is substantially larger between married women and partnered lesbian women who specialize in market production (primary earners) than between married women and partnered lesbian women who specialize in household production (secondary earners). Using a semi-parametric decomposition approach, we further show that the role of children in explaining the mean labor supply gap by sexual orientation is greatly understated if the household division of labor between household and market production is not taken into account. Finally, we illustrate that controlling for children significantly reduces differences between married women and secondary lesbian earners both in terms of the decision to remain attached to the labor market (the extensive margin), as well as in terms of annual hours of work conditional on working (the intensive margin). Further, the effect of controlling for children is not uniform across the distribution of conditional annual hours; instead it primarily reduces the percentage of secondary lesbian earners working extremely high annual hours.

This paper examines the parental background effect on male and female second generation immigrants’ annual earnings by comparing their annual income to that of workers with American descent on the US labor market. It uses data from the Current Population Surveys for the period 2000 - 2008 and utilizes the human capital earnings function into an OLS regression model to capture the income differentials. The effect of different parental composition is also analyzed to compare the impact on earnings of a domestically born parent. As an extension, the earnings gaps are studied at five different levels of schooling. Negative parental background effect is found on the annual earnings of male second generation immigrants with Mexican descent only, whereas the effect on all other categories of second generation immigrants is positive or close to zero. Furthermore, no solid proof of the advantage of having a domestic born parent could be reached.

OBJECTIVE: To develop an inventory of data sources for estimating health care costs in the United States and provide information to aid researchers in identifying appropriate data sources for their specific research questions. METHODS: We identified data sources for estimating health care costs using 3 approaches: (1) a review of the 18 articles included in this supplement, (2) an evaluation of websites of federal government agencies, non profit foundations, and related societies that support health care research or provide health care services, and (3) a systematic review of the recently published literature. Descriptive information was abstracted from each data source, including sponsor, website, lowest level of data aggregation, type of data source, population included, cross-sectional or longitudinal data capture, source of diagnosis information, and cost of obtaining the data source. Details about the cost elements available in each data source were also abstracted. RESULTS: We identified 88 data sources that can be used to estimate health care costs in the United States. Most data sources were sponsored by government agencies, national or nationally representative, and cross-sectional. About 40% were surveys, followed by administrative or linked administrative data, fee or cost schedules, discharges, and other types of data. Diagnosis information was available in most data sources through procedure or diagnosis codes, self-report, registry, or chart review. Cost elements included inpatient hospitalizations (42.0%), physician and other outpatient services (45.5%), outpatient pharmacy or laboratory (28.4%), out-of-pocket (22.7%), patient time and other direct nonmedical costs (35.2%), and wages (13.6%). About half were freely available for downloading or available for a nominal fee, and the cost of obtaining the remaining data sources varied by the scope of the project. CONCLUSIONS: Available data sources vary in population included, type of data source, scope, and accessibility, and have different strengths and weaknesses for specific research questions.

Abortion legalization in the early 1970s led to dramatic changes in fertility. Some research has suggested that it altered cohort outcomes, but this literature has been limited and controversial. In this paper, we provide a framework for understanding selection mechanisms and use that framework to both address inconsistent past methodological approaches and provide evidence on the long-run impact on cohort characteristics. Our results indicate that lower-cost abortion brought about by legalization altered young adult outcomes through selection. In particular, it increased likelihood of college graduation, lower rates of welfare use, and lower odds of being a single parent.

This study examines issues related to the fertility of graduate students over time. First, it examines changes in motherhood rates between 1970 and 2000 among women aged 2049 who are enrolled in graduate school, both by themselves and relative to prevailing trends among women not enrolled in graduate school, and to other college educated women. Overall, women enrolled in graduate school are increasingly likely to be mothers of young children, and are increasingly similar to non-graduate students. Second, it examines the timing of these births, and finds that almost half of births occur while women are enrolled in graduate school. Third, a brief review of current maternity leave policies and childcare options available to graduate students is presented. Results are discussed in terms of institutional changes within academia, changes between cohorts that attended graduate school in these decades, and the policy needs of graduate student mothers.

Adolescents face daily trade-offs between human capital investment, labor, andleisure. How does the quantity of time-competing options affect youtheducational attainment? In this paper, I exploit state variation in the repeal ofSunday closing laws to examine the impact of an exogenous rise in the number ofcompeting options available to youth on their educational attainment. While therepeal of these laws raises the short-run opportunity cost of studying, it seemsquestionable that retail stores being open for an extra day should play a major rolein human capital investment given the returns to education. Yet I find that thischange to one day of the week adds up to a significant distortion in educationalachievement repealing these laws leads to a decline of 0.18 years of education,and a 2.5 percentage point decrease in the probability of completing high school.The impact is also larger for males than for females. I explore potentialmechanisms for this decline, including increased employment opportunities andrisky behaviors. Finally, I show that this reduction in education leads to adecrease in adult wages of 1.8 percentage points.

The evolution of the skill premium (i.e., the wage differential between skilled and unskilled workers) has interest from at least two perspectives: it is a rough measure of inequality among workers of different qualifications and provides information on the characteristics of the development process of the economy. In this paper, I investigate empirically the evolution of the skill premium in Chile over the last 40 years. After some fluctuations in the 1960s and 1970s, the skill premium increased in the 1980s and has remained roughly constant since then. A simple accounting framework suggests that this evolution is an outcome of a significant increase in relative demand for skilled workers in the 1980s and 1990s and a sizeable increase in the relative supply in the 1990s. Next, I explain the evolution of the relative demand for skilled labor in Chile in the context of the Acemoglu (2003a) model of endogenous technological choice where new technologies are produced in developed countries (like the US) and adopted in developing economies (like Chile). Macro evidence and sectoral evidence confirm the main theoretical prediction of the model: patterns of skill upgrading in Chile have followed the evolution of the same variable in the US.

Key topics within sociological scholarship addressing change in the American labor market have been the deinstitutionalization of “standard” full-time work, the growth in part-time work and other “nonstandard” employment arrangements, and a corresponding deterioration in the material aspects of job quality (e.g., wages and benefits). Dual/segmented labor market theories position part-time work within the disadvantaged “secondary” labor market, in which jobs tend to be less skilled and afford lower wages and benefits. Yet, theories of part-time work acknowledge the existence of “good” and “bad” part-time jobs. While existing research has contributed to our understanding of the differences between full-time and part-time work quality, revealing the overall inferiority of part-time work, an important limitation of existing literature is that it has not empirically examined the variation within part-time work quality, the winners and losers in terms of part-time work quality, and how these arrangements have evolved themselves in a changing American labor market. Using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) Annual Social and Economic Supplement, this thesis examined four indicators of part-time work quality—voluntary/involuntary part-time work, employer-based health insurance coverage, employer-based retirement plan coverage, and wages—among adult part-time employees aged 18–69 years over a 25–year period, 1980–2005. Across all years, the majority of employees voluntarily worked part time, but significantly fewer reported health insurance coverage, retirement benefits, and good wages. Change in quality over time differed for women (who make up the majority of part-time employees) and men. An overall decline in voluntary part-time work impacted women but not men. While both groups experienced a decline in health insurance coverage during the study period, men’s rates of good wages and retirement plan PREVIEW iv coverage declined, whereas women’s rates improved. Logistic regression models revealed that segmentation within good wage/benefit part-time work is nearly identical with that of full-time employees in terms of job, employer, and employee characteristics. A key difference between the part-time and full-time models, however, was that over time part-time women were just as likely to have good wages/benefits as part-time men, whereas full-time women consistently had lower odds than their male counterparts. Results provide evidence of segmentation within part-time work and, for this reason, that dual/segmented labor market theories have inadequately considered part-time work. Additionally, this study calls attention to the limitations of existing scholarship on change in the American labor market in representing the experiences of part-time employees, especially part-time women.

Images and interpretations of the past, present, and future of the American racial and ethnic landscape are contradictory. Many accounts focus on the increasing diversity that results from immigration and differential natural increase as well as the proliferation of racial and ethnic categories in census data. Less attention has been paid to the formation and erosion of racial and ethnic identities produced by intermarriage and ethnic blending. The framers and custodians of census racial classifications assume a "geographic origins" definition of race and ethnicity, but the de facto measures in censuses and social surveys rely on folk categories that vary over time and are influenced by administrative practices and sociopolitical movements. We illustrate these issues through an in-depth examination of the racial and ethnic reporting by whites, blacks, Asians, and Hispanics in the 2000 census. The emerging pattern, labeled here as the "Americanization" of racial and ethnic identities, and most evident for whites and blacks, is of simplified racial identities with little acknowledgment of complex ancestries. National origin is the predominant mode of reporting racial and ethnic identities among Asians and Hispanics, especially first-generation immigrants. The future of racial and ethnic identities is unknowable, but continued high levels of immigration, intermarriage, and social mobility are likely to blur contemporary divisions and boundaries.

In a static frictionless transferable utilities bilateral matching mar-ket with systematic and idiosyncratic payos, supermodularity of thematch output function implies a strong form of positive assortativematching: The equilibrium matching distribution has all positive lo-cal log odd ratios or totally positive of order 2 (TP2). A particu-lar form of a preference for own type implies supermodularity of thematch output function. Other forms imply non-TP2 behavior. Lo-cal odds ratios are not informative on whether a bilateral matchingmarket equilibrates with or without transfers. Using white marriedcouples in their thirties from the US 2000 census, spousal educationalmatching obeyed TP2 except for less than 0.2% of marriages withextreme spousal educational disparities. Using the TP2 order, therewere more positive assortative matching by couples living in SMSA'sthan those who do not; but not more positive assortative matching in2000 than in 1970. There were increases in speci?c local log odds over that period.