This paper surveys recent empirical studies on the economic impacts of immigration.Particular emphasis is given to the experiences of Northern Europe and Scandinavia. Thesurvey first examines the magnitude of immigration as an economic phenomenon in varioushost countries. The second part deals with the assimilation of immigrant workers in host-country labor markets and the use of social benets by immigrants. The survey thenconsiders the effect of immigration on the labor market outcomes of natives. The paperconcludes with studies of immigrations impact for the public sector of host countries.

Proposition 13 transformed California's property tax from a market-value-based tax to an acquisition-value-based tax, under which the assessed value of a property equals the market value at the time the property is sold, but can increase by no more than 2 percent per year until the next change in ownership. Acquisition value assessment discourages mobility because property owners lose their tax break from the assessment limit when they sell. Property taxes can increase dramatically after a move, even if the market value of the new property is the same or less than the old one.Young households may choose not to move to larger houses as their families grow in size and older households may not downsize as their children leave. Homeowners may not move if their job location changes and may not accept a job offer if it necessitates a move. Households may not "vote with their feet" by choosing to move to communities that provide their desired local services and taxes.Those choices result in inefficient resource allocation and decreased economic welfare.

The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, more commonly know as the Freedmen’s Bureau, was a federal agency established to help Southern blacks transition from their lives as slaves to free individuals. The challenges of this transformation were enormous as the Civil War devastated the region – leaving farmland dilapidated and massive amounts of capital destroyed. Additionally, the entire social order of the region was disturbed as slave owners and former slaves were forced to interact with one another in completely new ways. The Freedmen’s Bureau was an unprecedented foray by the federal government into the sphere of social welfare during a critical period of American history. This article briefly describes this unique agency, its colorful history, and many functions that the bureau performed during its brief existence.

In this paper we ask how the diffusion of oral contraception to young unmarried women affected thenumber and characteristics of children born to these women. We find that early pill access led toimmediate increases in the fraction of children born to impoverished households and in the probability oflow birthweight; conversely, over the long-term it caused an increase in the share of children whosemothers were married, college educated, and had professional occupations. We investigate themechanisms by which the pill led to these differential effects and find that access to the pill led to falls inshort-term fertility rates for young women and decreases in lifetime fertility at both the intensive and theextensive margins. The short-term impacts of the pill appear driven by a selection effectupwardlymobile women opted out of early childbearing while the long-term effects are driven by (1) permanentfertility reductions and (2) the direct effect of the pill on womens marital and career outcomes. We findevidence that some but not all averted births were replaced through increases in late-cycle fertility. Wecontrast the effects we find on the short-term and long-term marginal child to the very different effectsof abortion legalization, and also find suggestive evidence that availability of the pill lowered abortionsamong young women. Despite the fact that our results suggest that abortion and the pill are on averageused for different purposes by different women, it does appear that on the margin women substitute fromabortion towards the pill when both are available.

This paper measures the role of quality-adjusted education in accounting for cross-country di erences in income per worker. The returns to schooling of immigrants tothe United States are used as a measure of their source-country education quality.Returns are available for 130 countries and vary by up to an order of magnitudebetween developed and developing countries. A model shows why the returns toschooling of immigrants and not other wage statistics are an appropriate measure ofeducation quality. The model is consistent with the relationships between educationquality, average school attainment, and the returns to schooling for immigrants andnon-migrants. Calibrating the model, or augmenting a Bils and Klenow (2000)-styleaccounting exercise to account for education quality, yields large results. Quality-adjusted schooling is found to account for 38-42% of the income di erence betweenthe richest and poorest quintiles of countries, as opposed to the 21-24% in the currentliterature that accounts only for years of schooling.

An important task in data analysis is the understanding of unexpected or atypical behaviors in a group of individuals. Which categories of individuals earn the higher salaries or, on the contrary, which ones earn the lower salaries? We present the problem of how data concerning atypical groups can be mined compared with a target quantitative attribute, like for instance the attribute ldquosalaryrdquo, and in particular for the high and low values of a user-defined interval. Our search therefore focuses on conjunctions of attributes whose distribution differs significantly from the learning set for the intervalpsilas high and low values of the target attribute. Such atypical groups can be found by adapting an existing measure, the intensity of inclination. This measure frees us from the transformation step of quantitative attributes, that is to say the step of discretization followed by a complete disjunctive coding. Thus, we propose an algorithm for mining such groups using pruning rules in order to reduce the complexity of the problem. This algorithm has been developed and integrated into the WEKA software for knowledge extraction. Finally we give an example of data extraction from the American census database IPUMS.

This paper uses labor market evidence to quantify the importance of quality-adjusted schooling diff erences in accounting for cross-country income diff erences. I model labor markets that are consistent with cross-country data on schooling attainment, education quality, and the average returns to schooling of a country's emigrants and its non-migrants. The model suggests that the Mincerian returns to schooling of immigrants to the United States measure the education qualities of their source countries. Measured this way, quality di fferences across countries are large, and the calibrated model shows that schooling accounts for a factor of 5 of the income diff erence between the U.S. and the poorest countries. The evidence suggests that immigrants to the U.S. are positively selected members of their source country, and that immigrants from developing countries are more selected than those from developedcountries. Then the low education quality measured in the sample actually overestimates the education quality of the average non-migrant, particularly for developing countries. Two methods of controlling for selection among immigrants thus predict a moderately larger role for schooling, between a factor of 6.5 and 7.9.

The United States experienced a “transportation revolution” in the nineteenth century (Taylor 1951). The development of canals and other navigable waterways and, especially, railroads, linked together far flung factor and product markets and stimulated economic growth through division of labor and exploitation of regional comparative advantage (North 1961; Goodrich 1961; Ransom 1967, 1970; Williamson 1974; Haites et al. 1975). Economic historians have measured the aggregate social savings of the railroads in the nineteenth century (Fogel 1964; Fishlow 1965) but have paid less attention to measuring impacts of gaining rail access at the local economic level, despite the fact that contemporaries at the time were vitally interested in such effects and that economic theory provides useful guidance as to what these effects might have been.

Objectives. I examined workplace injury risk over time and across racial/ethnic and gender groups to observe patterns of change and to understand how occupational characteristics and job mobility influence these changes. Methods. I used hierarchical generalized linear models to estimate individual workplace injury and illness risk overtime ("trajectories") for a cohort of American workers who participated in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1988-1998). Results. Significant temporal variation in injury risk was observed across racial/ethnic and gender groups. At baseline,White men had a high risk of injury relative to the other groups and experienced the greatest decline over time. Latino men demonstrated a pattern of lower injury risk across time compared with White men. Among both Latinos; and non-Latino Whites, women had lower odds of injury than did men. Non-Latino Black women's injury risk was similar to Black men's and greater than that for both Latino and non-Latino White women. Occupational characteristics and job mobility partly explained these differences. Conclusions. Disparities between racial/ethnic and gender groups were dynamic and changed over time. Workplace injury risk was associated with job dimensions such as work schedule, union representation, health insurance, job hours, occupational racial segregation, and occupational environmental hazards. (Am J Public Health. 2008;98:2258-2263. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2006.103135)

Structural change involves a broad set of trends: (i) sectoral reallocations, (ii) rich movements of productive activities between home and market, and (iii) an increase in the scale of productive units. After extending these facts, we develop a model to explain them within a unifiedframework. The crucial distinction between manufacturing, services, and home production is the scale of the productive unit. Scale technologies give rise to industrialization and the marketization of previously home produced activities. The rise of mass consumption leads to an expansion of manufacturing, but a reversal of the marketization process for service industries. Finally, the later growth in the scale of services leads to a decline in industry and a rise in services.

The purpose of the study was to assess the impact of immigration on suicide. An unmatched case-control design was employed. Data on cases were obtained on suicides in Riverside County, California, 1998 to 2001. Information on controls was obtained from the 2000 Census. Immigration increased suicide risk. Immigrant divorced persons were over 2 times likely to commit suicide than natives. Single immigrants were nearly 2.6 times more likely to kill themselves than the native born. Shorter duration of residence was associated with higher suicide risk. Integration of immigrants in receiving societies is important for decreasing suicide. Policies aimed at reducing suicide should target more recent immigrants.

What impact does inequality have on metropolitan areas? Crime rates are higher in places with more inequality, and people in unequal cities are more likely to say that they are unhappy. There is also a negative association between local inequality and the growth of both income and population, once we control for the initial distribution of skills. What determines the degree of inequality across metropolitan areas? Twenty years ago, metropolitan inequality was strongly associated with poverty, but today, inequality is more strongly linked to the presence of the wealthy. Inequality in skills can explain about one third of the variation in income inequality, and that skill inequality is itself explained by historical schooling patterns and immigration. There are also substantial differences in the returns to skill, related to local concentrations in different industries, and these too are strongly correlated with inequality.

Is there an association between occupational racial composition and nonfatal workplace injuries? Guided by several labor market theories (queuing, social closure, devaluation, poor market position, and human capital), we use occupational data from the U.S. Census and Dictionary of Occupational Titles combined with individual data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to answer this question. Hierarchical generalized linear models of individuals within occupations show that there is an association between occupational racial composition and workplace injuries, but this association is only statistically significant for white men in the model controlling for relevant occupational and individual level characteristics. A 10 percent increase in the occupation percent black is associated with a 28 percent increase in injury risk. Contrary to expectations, white men have the highest adjusted odds of injury; white women and black men have significantly lower odds of injury than white men. Additionally, occupation-level environmental hazards and individual-level education, hours worked per week, jobs with insurance benefits, working in the South, and specific industries are associated with differential injury risk. These findings are consistent with labor market theories that suggest social closure, market position, and individual skills contribute to differential labor market outcomes. We demonstrate that sociological theories of labor market inequality are useful for understanding workplace injury risk, and that workplace injuries should be studied as an outcome of social inequality.

Most research in the are of economics and obesity attempts to identify the cause(s) of the increase in the average body mass index (BMI) in developed countries. Common themes include lower relative foos prices, technological advances that have led to more sedentary work and leisure activitis and a larger number of ready-to-eat food products for sale, a cultural shift towards greater discounting of the future, and an increase in the consumption of restaurant and other prepares foods due to the rise in women's labor force participation. This paper includes a survey of the literature regarding women's work behavior and their children's BMIs, and it also contains an analysis of the data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth from 2006 to confirm earlier findings. Missing from the literature are analyses od women's work behavior and their own BMIs, and women;s work behavior and their adult family members' BMIs, so this paper also includes analysis of the data provided by the Integrated Health Interview Surveyin 2006 to explore these relationships. The results show there is little evidence women's increased participation in the labor force is a significant contributor to higher BMIs in the United States.

Home ownership represents much more than shelter; home ownership is also indicative of an individuals or a groups social and economic standing. Racial and ethnic differences have been observed not only in home ownership but also in housing values. The present study examines the extent to which differences in housing values between Asians, blacks, Hispanics and whites, and among black ethnic groups, can be attributed to race and ethnicity or to other sociological factors such as age, gender, marital status, region, occupational score, nativity, year of immigration and English proficiency. Changes in the determinants of housing values between 1970 and 2000 are assessed over time as well as changes in the level of inequality on housing values between whites and non-whites. The findings reveal that the housing gap between whites and non-whites over the past few decades has actually grown over time. As home values make up the largest component of the average Americans portfolio, these findings may be significant in understanding and explaining the persistence of the racial wealth gap in America.

This report examines how lifeline infrastructure performance in disasters can be linked to communities' disaster resilience. The scope is limited to the social and economic dimensions of resilience, and focuses on the case of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). The research links infrastructure performance and community resilience through two channels: first, through quantitative modeling and development of decision-support tools, and second, through exploring the role of community engagement in defining performance goals. The research develops a new simulation model of direct economic loss from lifeline disruption in disasters. It further develops a model to estimate the demand for public shelter in a disaster. A second line of research then explores issues related to how such socio-economic impacts can be considered in utilities' mitigation decision-making, what are appropriate seismic performance goals for utilities, and by what processes these can be determined. The issues are explored through a literature review of participatory processes in environmental risk management and a series of interviews with experts, utilities, and representatives from a broad range of community stakeholder groups. This research provides background, quantitative models, preliminary community input, and recommendations for a process by which utilities and communities can assess and improve their disaster resilience.

We set out an open, monocentric city with residential structures and reflect how changes to the amenity index affects the city. On the consumption side an amenity is represented by an exogenous boost to the utility of a resident's current commodity bundle. The cities population, land rent and footprint expand and its density rises. We test for an amenity effect in local wages with household data for the US in 1990 and discover the city density is much stronger in explaining local premia than is the city population. We test for amenity effects in local house prices with the same data set.

This dissertation studies how sociopolitical transformational process of a country affects its economic performance. It analyzes how social fractionalization and social integration determine the sociopolitical evolutionary process, which in turn affects the performance of the country's economy. Chapter one develops a theoretical model setting up the relationship between social fractionalization and social integration on one hand and output per capita and economic growth on the other hand. In the model, social fragmentation breeds discriminatory practices regarding government redistribution thereby creating political tensions. This brings about inefficient allocation of resources away from production to struggle for political power in order to take control of government redistribution mechanism leading to poor economic outcomes. However, social integrative processes may correct this inefficiency over time depending on the degree of social fractionalization, the level of social distance between the social groups, etc. Even though the model predicts long-run convergence of growth rates and output per capita across countries, it shows possible prolonged divergence of these economic variables. Chapter two tests the theoretical model for empirical evidence. It uses the 48 contiguous U.S. states as a case study. Panel data regression is employed to study the role racial integration as measured by the percentage of interracial marriages plays in the determination of income per capita across these states. I control for physical capital, human capital, tax burden, population growth rate and state-specific and time fixed effects. Possible problem of endogeneity is accounted for by using the number of decades the states have allowed interracial marriages by repealing their antimiscegenation laws (laws prohibiting interracial marriages) as instrument for interracial marriages for instrumental variable estimation. Additionally, in 1967 the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the antimiscegenation laws of the remaining 16 states that continued to have such laws. This is thus used as an exogenous event for difference-in-difference estimation. The results for these estimations techniques show that racial integration as measured by the levels of interracial marriages is a significant predictor of income per capita across the states in the U.S. Chapter three examines the extent to which the large differences in foreign direct investment flows to countries in the developing world is explained by ethnic fractionalization. I find that ethnic fractionalization is a significant determinant of FDI inflows to developing countries.