14.661 | Fall 2017 | Graduate

Labor Economics I

Readings

First Half of the Class with Prof. Josh Angrist

[MHE] J. Angrist and J-S Pischke, Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist’s Companion, Princeton University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780691120355.

[MM] — — —, Mastering ‘Metrics: The Path from Cause to Effect, Princeton University, 2014. ISBN: 9780691152844.

[HOLE] O. Ashenfelter and R. Layard, Handbook of Labor Economics, Volume 1, 1987. ISBN: 9780444878564.

[HOLE 3A] O. Ashenfelter and D. Card, Handbook of Labor Economics, Volume 3A, 2010. ISBN: 9780444501875.

Note: An (M) indicates work done as part of an MIT thesis. 

SES # TOPICS READINGS
I. Labor Market Facts and Trends

C. Goldin, “Labor Markets in the 20th Century,” NBER Historical Working Paper No. 8, June 1994 [also in Cambridge Economic History of the US, pp. 1-85].

C. Romer, “Spurious Volatility in Historical Unemployment Data,” Journal of Political Economy, 94 [1], February 1986, 1-37.

C. Goldin and R. Margo, “The Great Compression: The Wage Structure in the United States at Mid-century,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 1992.

D. Autor and M. Duggan, " The Rise in the Disability Rolls and the Decline in Unemployment," Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 2003.

H. Farber, “Job Loss and the Decline in Job Security in the United States,” in Abraham, K. Spletzer, J. and Harper, M., eds., Labor in the New Economy, University of Chicago, 2010.

L. Katz and D. Autor, “Changes in the Wage Structure and Earnings Inequality.” (chapter 26 in [HOLE 3A].

(M) T. Lemieux, “The Changing Nature of U.S. Wage Inequality,” J. of Population Economics, 2007.

D. Autor, L. Katz, and M. Kearney, “ Trends in U.S. Wage Inequality: Revising the Revisionists (PDF),” The Review of Economics and Statistics, May 2008. (M)

E. Saez and T. Piketty, “ Income Inequality in the United States: 1913-1998 (PDF)," Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 2003 (and web updates on Saez home page).

W. Kopczuk, E. Saez, and J. Song, “ Earnings Inequality and Mobility in the United States: Evidence From Social Security Data Since 1937 (PDF),” The QJE, 125(1), February 2010.

M. Elsby, B. Hobijn, and A. Sahin, “The Labor Market in the Great Recession,” BPEA Spring 2010 (2011 update (PDF - 1.2MB))

C.B. Mulligan, “Do Welfare Policies Matter for Labor Market Aggregates? Quantifying Safety Net Work Incentives Since 2007,” NBER Working Paper 18088 (May 2012).

J. Rothstein, “The Labor Market Four Years Into the Crisis: Assessing Structural Explanations,” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 65(3), June 2012, 467-500.

H. Farber, “Employment, Hours, and Earnings Consequences of Job Loss; US Evidence from the Displaced Workers Survey,” JOLE 35 S1 (July 2017).

D. Autor, “Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace Automation,” J. Economic Perspectives 29 (Summer 2015), 3-30.

 L. Katz and C. Goldin, The Race Between Education and Technology, Harvard University Press, 2010. ISBN: 9780674035300.

II. The Neoclassical Labor Supply Model
IIa. Basics

 A. Deaton and J. Muellbauer, Economics and Consumer Behavior, Cambridge University Press, 1980, especially Chapter 4. ISBN: 9780521296762.

M. Killingsworth, Labor Supply, Cambridge University Press, 1983; Chapters 1, 2, and 7. ISBN:9780521299169.

O. Ashenfelter and J. Heckman, “The Estimation of Income and Substitution Effects in a Model of Family Labor Supply,” Econometrica, 42[1], January 1974, 73-86.

 R. Blundell and T. MaCurdy, “Labor Supply: a Review of Alternative Approaches.” In [HOLE 3A], chapter 27, 1999. 

M. Killingsworth and J. Heckman, “Female Labor Supply: A Survey,” chapter 2 in [HOLE]. 

J. Heckman, “Shadow Prices, Market Wages and Labor Supply,” Econometrica, 42[4], July 1974, 679-94.

R. Imbens, D. Rubin, and B. Sacerdote, “Estimating the Effect of Unearned Income on Labor Supply: Evidence from a Survey of Lottery Players,” American Economic Review 91 (2001).

D. Cesarini, E. Lindqvist, M. Notowidigdo, and R. Östling, “The Effect of Wealth on Individual and Household Labor Supply: Evidence from Swedish Lotteries,” American Economic Review, forthcoming.

IIb. Tax and Transfer Programs

R. Moffitt, “Welfare Programs and Labor Supply,” Handbook of Public Economics: Volume 4. eds. A. Aurbach and M. Feldstein, September 2002. ISBN: 9781493302499.

N. Eissa and J. Leibman, “Labor Supply Response to the Earned Income Tax Credit,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 111 (May 1996).

B. Meyer and D. Rosenbaum, “Welfare, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and the Labor Supply of Single Mothers” (with Dan T. Rosenbaum), Quarterly Journal of Economics CXVI, August 2001, 1063-1114.

O. Ashenfelter, “The Labor Supply Response of Wage Earners,” in Palmer and Pechman, eds., Welfare in Rural Areas: The North Carolina-Iowa Income Maintenance Experiment, Brookings, 1978, 109-148. Social Work, 24 [4], 1979, 342–343.

D. Greenberg, and H. Halsey, “Systematic Misreporting and Effects of Income Maintenance Experiments on Work Effort: Evidence from the SIME-DIME,” Journal of Labor Economics, 1[4], October 1983, 380-407.

O. Ashenfelter, “Determining Participation in Income-Tested Social Programs, Journal of the American Statistical Association,” Journal of the American Statistical Association, 78[383], September 1983, 517-525.

O. Ashenfelter and M. Plant, “Nonparametric Estimates of the Labor Supply Effects of Negative Income Tax Programs,” Journal of Labor Economics, 8[1] Part 2, 1990, S397-S415.

M. Plant, “An Empirical Analysis of Welfare Dependence,” American Economic Review, 74[4], September 1984, 673-684.

R. Blank, “Evaluating Welfare Reform in the United States,” Journal of Economic Literature, December 2002, 1105-66. D.

D. Card and D. Hyslop, “Estimating the Effects of a Time-Limited Earnings Subsidy For Welfare-Leavers,” Econometrica 73 (November 2005), 1723-1770.

J. Rothstein, “Is the EITC as Good as an NIT? Conditional Cash Transfers and Tax Incidence.” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 2 (1), February 2010, p.p. 177-208.

R. Chetty, J. Friedman, and E. Saez, “Using Differences in Knowledge Across Neighborhoods to Uncover the Impacts of the EITC on Earnings,” The AER, 103 (December 2013), 2683-2721.

IIc. The Life-Cycle Model

R.E. Lucas and L. Rapping, “Real Wages, Employment, and Inflation,” Journal of Political Economy, 77[5], September-October 1969, 721-764.

G. Becker and G. Ghez, The Allocation of Time and Goods Over the Life-Cycle, Columbia University Press, 1975. ISBN: 9780870145148.

R. Hall, “Stochastic Implications of the Life-Cycle Permanent Income Hypothesis,” Journal of Political Economy 86, 1978.

J. Heckman, “Life-Cycle Consumption and Labor Supply: An Explanation of the Relationship Between Income and Consumption Over the Life Cycle,” The AER 64(1), March 1974, 188-194.

T. MaCurdy, “An Empirical Model of Labor Supply in a Life-Cycle Setting,” Journal of Political Economy, 89[6], December 1981, 1059-1085.

J. Altonji, “Intertemporal Substitution in Labor Supply: Evidence from Micro Data,” Journal of Political Economy, 94[3] Part 2, June 1986, S176-S215.

M. Browning, A. Deaton and M. Irish, “A Profitable Approach to Labor Supply and Commodity Demand Over the Life-Cycle,” Econometrica, 53[3], May 1985, 503-543.

O. Ashenfelter, “Macroeconomic and Microeconomic Analyses of Labor Supply,” Carnegie- Rochester Conference on Public Policy, 21, 1984, 117-156.

J. Angrist, “Grouped-Data Estimation and Testing in Simple Labor Supply Models,” Journal of Econometrics, 47[2], 1991, 243-266.

D. Card, “Intertemporal Labor Supply: An Assessment,” in C. Sims, ed., Advances in Econometrics Sixth World Congress, vol. II, Cambridge University Press, 1994, 49-78.

R. Blundell, A. Duncan, and C. Meghir, “Estimating Labor Supply Responses Using Tax Reforms,” Econometrica 66 (1998), 827-861.

P.J. Devereux. “Small Sample Bias in Synthetic Cohort Models of Labor Supply,” The Journal of Applied Econometrics, June 2007, 839-848.

[MHE] Section 4.1 (especially 4.1.2 and 4.1.3), and [MM] Chapter 3.

Cab drivers, et al.

C. Camerer, L. Babcock, G. Lowenstein, and R. Thaler, “Labor Supply of New York City Cabdrivers: One Day at a Time,” QJE 112 (1997), 407-441.

G. Oettinger., “An Empirical Analysis of the Daily Labor Supply of Stadium Vendors,” Journal of Political Economy, 107[2], April 1999, 360-92.

H. Farber, “Is Tomorrow Another Day? The Labor Supply of New York City Cab Drivers,” JPE, February 2005.

E. Fehr and L. Goette, “Do Workers Work More if Wages are High? Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment,” American Economic Review 97, March 2007.

H. Farber, “Reference-Dependent Preferences and Labor Supply: The Case of New York City Taxi Drivers,” The American Economic Review 98 (2008), 1069-1082.

T. Stafford, “What Do Fisherman Tell Us that Taxi Drivers Don’t? An Empirical Investigation of Labor Supply,” Journal of Labor Economics, 33[3], 2015.

J. Angrist, S. Cadlwell, and J. Hall, “Uber vs Taxi: A Driver’s Eye View,” National Bureau of Economics. Working Paper 23891. October 2017. 

A. Mas and A. Pallais, “Labor Supply and the Value of Non-Work Time: Experimental Estimates from the Field,” Harvard Economics Dept Working Paper, July 2017.

IId. Household and Family Models

 G. Becker, 1981, A Treatise on the Family, Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN: 9780674906990.

S.Bronars, and J. Grogger, “The Economic Consequences of Unwed Motherhood: Using Twins as a Natural Experiment,” American Economic Review, 84[5], December 1994, 1141-1156.

M. Browning, “Children and Household Economic Behavior,” Journal of Economic Literature, 30[3], September 1992, 1434-1475.

R. Gronau, “Leisure, Home Production. and Work – The Theory of the Allocation of Time Revisited,” Journal of Political Economy, 85[6], December 1977, 1099-1124.

J. Angrist and W. Evans, “Children and their Parents’ Labor Supply: Evidence from Exogenous Variation in Family Size,” AER 88[3], June 1998, 450-477.

R. Willis, , “What Have We Learned from the Economics of the Family?,” American Economic Review, 77[2], May 1987, 68-81.

J. Gelbach, “Public Schooling for Young Children and Maternal Labor Supply,” American Economic Review, 92, March 2002, 307-322. (M)

M. Kearney, “Is There an Effect of Incremental Welfare Benefits on Fertility Behavior? A Look at the Family Cap,” Journal of Human Resources 39(2), 2004. (M)

M. Kearney and P.B. Levine, “Media Influences on Social Outcomes: The Impact of MTV’s 16 and Pregnant on teen Childbearing,” The AER 105 (December 2015).

D. Coen-Pirani, A. León, and S. Lugauer, “The Effect of Household Appliances on Female Labor Force Participation: Evidence from Microdata,” Labour Economics, vol. 17(3), pages 503- 513, June 2010.

J. Angrist and I. Fernandez-Val, “Extrapolating: External Validity and Overidentification in the LATE Framework,” Chapter 11 in Advances in Economics and Econometrics (Tenth World Congress), 2013.

P. Kline and C.R. Walters, “Evaluating Public Programs with Close Substitutes: The Case of Head Start,” The QJE 131 (November 2016), 1795-1848.

[MHE] Chapter 4 (Instrumental Variables), and [MM] Chapter 3.

III. Labor Demand and Demand-Side Institutions and Policies
IIIa. Labor Demand

D. Hamermesh, Labor Demand, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, Chapters 2-3, 18-136. ISBN:9780691025872.

D. Hamermesh, “The Demand for Labor in the Long Run,” Chapter 8 in [HOLE].

S. Nickell, “Dynamic Models of Labour Demand,” Chapter 9 in [HOLE].

D. Card, “Unexpected Inflation, Real Wages, and Employment Determination in Union Contracts,” American Economic Review, September 1990, 669-88.

J. Angrist, “Short-Run Demand for Palestinian Labor,” Journal of Labor Economics, July 1996.

D. Card and T. Lemieux, “Can Falling Supply Explain the Rising Return to College for Younger Men? A Cohort-based Analysis,” QJE 116 (May 2001), 705-746.

IIIb. Market Structure and the Min

C. Brown, “Minimum Wages, Employment, and the Distribution of Income”, Chapter 32 in [HOLE 3A].

D. Card, “Using Regional Variation to Measure the Effect of the Federal Minimum Wage,” Industrial and Labor Relations Review, October 1992.

D. Card and A. Krueger, Myth and Measurement: The New Economics of the Minimum Wage, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995. ISBN:9780691169125.

J. Kennan, “The Elusive Effects of Minimum Wages,” Journal of Economic Literature, 33[4], December 1995, 1949-1965.

R. Dickens, S. Machin and A. Manning, “The Effects of Minimum Wages on Employment: Theory and Evidence From Britain”, Journal of Labor Economics, 17[1], January 1999, 1-22.

 A. Manning, Monopsony in Motion: Imperfect Competition in Labor Markets, Princeton University Press, 2003. ISBN: 0691113122.

C. Propper,and J. Van Reenen, “Can Pay Regulation Kill? Panel Data Evidence on the Effect of Labor Markets on Hospital Performance,” Journal of Political Economy, 2010, 118 (2). pp. 222-273.

[MHE] Chapter 5 and [MM] Chapter 5.

IIIc. Immigration and Migration

G.E. Johnson, “The Labor Market Effects of Immigration,” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 33 (April 1980).

G. Borjas (1995) “The Economic Benefits from Immigration,” JEP 9 (Spring), 3-22.

 J. Altonji and D. Card, “The Effects of Immigration on the Labor Market Outcomes of Less- Skilled Natives,” in J. Abowd and R. Freeman, eds., Immigration, Trade, and the Labor Market, University of Chicago Press, 1991, 201-234. ISBN: 9780226000954.

D. Card, “The Impact of the Mariel Boatlift on the Miami Labor Market.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review, vol.43, (January 1990), pp. 245–257.

G. Borjas, R. Freeman, and L. Katz. “How Much Do Immigrant and Trade Affect Labor Market Outcomes?” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, no. 1 (1997).

J-S. Pischke, and J. Velling, “Employment Effects of Immigration to Germany: An Analysis Based on Local Labor Markets (PDF),” The Review of Economics and Statistics 79 (Nov. 1997), 594-604.

J. Angrist and A. Kugler, “Protective or Counter-Productive? Labor Market Institutions and the Effect of Immigration on EU Natives,” The Economic Journal, June 2003.

G. Borjas, “The Labor Demand Curve is Downward Sloping: Reexamining the Impact of Immigration on the Labor Market,” QJE November 2003.

P. Cortes, “The Effect of Low-Skilled Immigration on US Prices: Evidence from CPI Data,” JPE 2008, 381-422. (M)

D. Card, “Immigration and Inequality,” AER 99 (May 2009), 1-21.

C.L. Smith, “The Impact of Low-skilled Immigration on the Youth Labor Market,” Journal of Labor Economics 30.1, 2012, 55-89. (M)

H. Bleakley and A. Chin, “Language Skills and Earnings: Evidence from Childhood Immigrants,” RESTAT 86 (May 2004), 481-96. (M)

G. Ottaviano and G. Peri, “Rethinking the Effects of Immigration on Wages,” J. of the Eur. Ec. Assoc. 10 (2012), 152-197

G. Borjas, “The Wage Impact of the Marielitos: A Reappraisal,” Industrial and Labor Relations Review, forthcoming 2017. (see also Clemens and Hunt)

IIId. Unions

G. Borjas, Labor Economics, 5th Ed., McGraw-Hill, 2010 (Chapter 10). ISBN: 9780078021886.

R. Freeman and J. Medoff, What Do Unions Do?, Basic Books, 1985. ISBN: 9780465091324.

H. Gregg Lewis, Union Relative Wage Effects: A Survey, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1986. ISBN: 9780226477213.

 H. Farber “The Analysis of Union Behavior,” In Orley Ashenfelter and Richard Layard (eds), The Handbook of Labor Economics, Volume II, 1986. ISBN: 9780444878571. 

J.N. Brown and O.C. Ashenfelter,“Testing the Efficiency of Employment Contracts,” Journal of Political Economy 1986, S40-S87.

O. Ashenfelter and G. Johnson, “Bargaining Theory, Trade Unions, and Industrial Strike Activity,” The AER 59 (1969), 35-49.

G. Jakubson, “Estimation and Testing of the Union Wage Effect Using Panel Data,” Review of Economic Studies, 1991, 971-91.

J. DiNardo and D.S. Lee, “Economic Impacts of New Unionization on US Private Sector Employers: 1984-2001,” QJE 119 (2004), 1383-1442.

D. Lee and A. Mas, “Long-run Impacts of Unions on Firms: New Evidence from Financial Markets, 1961-1999,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2012, 127(1), 333-378.

B. Frandsen, “ The Surprising Impacts of Unionization: Evidence from Matched Employer- Employee Data (PDF),” BYU Economics Department, Manuscript, December 2014. (M)

B. Frandsen, “The Effects of Collective Bargaining Rights on Public Employee Compensation: Evidence from Teachers, Fire Fighters, and Police,” The Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 2016. (M)

C. Hoxby, “How Teachers Unions Affect Education Production,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, August 1996.

[MHE] Chapters 5 (Panel Data) and 6 and [MM] Chapter 4.

JN Brown, “Testing the Efficiency of Employment Contracts,” Journal of Political Economy 1986, S40-S87.

IV. Human Capital
IVa. Schooling, Experience, and Earnings

J. Mincer, Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, New York: NBER, 1974.

G. Becker, Human Capital, 3rd Edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780226041223.

R.J. Willis, “Wage Determinants,” Chapter 10 in [HOLE].

Y. Ben-Porath, “The Production of Human Capital Over the Life Cycle of Earnings,’’ Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 75,  No. 4-1, 1967, pp. 352-365.

R.J. Willis, and Sherwin Rosen, “Education and Self-Selection,” Journal of Political Economy, 87[5] Part 2, Oct 1979: S7-S36.

R. Freeman, “Demand for Education,” Chapter 6 in [HOLE].

K. Lang, and David Kropp (1986), “Human Capital Versus Sorting: The Effects of Compulsory Attendance Laws,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 101, 609-624.

J. Tyler, Richard J. Murnane and John Willett, “Estimating the Labor Market Signaling value of the GED,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 2000. (M)

P. Martorell and D. Clark, “The Signaling Value of a High School Diploma,” Journal of Political Economy, 122[2], April 2014.

IVb. Empirical Earnings Functions

Returns-to-schooling econometrics

Z. Griliches and and W. Mason, “Education, Income, and Ability,” Journal of Political Economy, 80(3), Part II, 1972, S74-S103.

Z. Griliches, “Estimating the Returns to Schooling: Some Econometric Problems,” Econometrica, January 1977.

J.D. Angrist and A. Krueger, “Does Compulsory Schooling Attendance Affect Schooling and Earnings?Quarterly Journal of Economics, 106[4], Nov 1991, 979-1014.

K. Lang, “Ability Bias, Discount Rate Bias, and the Returns to Schooling (PDF),” Boston University mimeo, 1993.

D. Card, “Earnings, Schooling, and Ability Revisited,” in: S. Polachek, ed. Research in Labor Economics, 14, 1995, 23-48.

D. Card, “The Causal Effect of Education on Earnings,” chapter in [HOLE 3A].

J. Kling, “Interpreting Instrumental Variables Estimates of the Returns to Schooling,” JBES 19 (July 2001). (M)

D. Card, “Estimating the Return to Schooling: Progress on Some Persistent Econometric Problems.” Econometrica 69 (September 2001).

P. Oreopoulos, “Estimating Average and Local Average Treatment Effects of Education when Compulsory Schooling Laws really Matter,” American Economic Review 96(1), March 2006, pp. 152-175.

[MM] Chapter 6.

Returns to experience and OJT

B. Jovanovic (1979) “Firm-Specific Capital and TurnoverJournal of Political Economy, 87.6 (December), 1246-60.

J. Altonji and R. Shakotko, “Do Wages Rise with Job Seniority?,” Review of Economic Studies, July 1987.

R. Topel (1991). “Specific Capital, Mobility, and Wages: Wages Rise with Job SeniorityJournal of Political Economy 99, n1 145-76.

K. M. Murphy and F. Welch, “Empirical Age-Earnings Profiles,” JOLE 8 (April 1990).

Topel Robert and Michael Ward (1992). “Job Mobility and the Careers of Young Men,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 107 [2], 439-479.

Buy at MIT Press Lazear, Edward P. Personnel Economics, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1995, Chapter 7. ISBN: 9780262512947.

J. Angrist, “Lifetime Earnings and the Vietnam Era Draft Lottery: Evidence from Social Security Administrative Records,” American Economic Review, 80[3], June 1990, 313-336.

J. Angrist and S. Chen, “Schooling and the Vietnam-Era GI Bill: Evidence from the Draft Lottery,” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, April 2011, 3, 96-119.

D. Acemoglu, and J-S. Pischke (1999). “Beyond Becker: Training in Imperfect Labor Markets,” Economic Journal vol 109 February 1999, pp F112-142.

D. Autor, (2001) “Why Do Temporary Help Firms Provide Free General Skills Training?”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 116, No. 3, pp. 1409-1448. (M)

L. Jacobson, R. LaLonde and D. Sullivan (1993). “Earning Losses of Displaced Workers,” American Economic Review, vol. 83, pp. 685-709.

Second Half of the Class with Prof. Daron Acemoglu

Buy at MIT Press Cahuc, Pierre, Stéphane Carcillo, and André Zylberberg. Labor Economics, Second Edition. MIT Press, 2014. ISBN:  9780262027700.

Note: An * indicates a recommended reading. 

SES # TOPICS READINGS
I. Labor Market Externalities
Ia. Non-Pecuniary and Pecuniary Externalities in the Labor Market

Rauch, James E. (1993) “Productivity Gains from Geographic Concentration of Human Capital Evidence from the Cities,” Journal of Urban Economics 34, 380-400.

 Acemoglu, Daron (1996) “A Microfoundation for Social Increasing Returns in Human Capital Accumulation,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 111 [3], 779-804.

*Acemoglu, Daron and Joshua Angrist (2000) “How Large Are The External Returns to Education: Evidence from Compulsory Schooling Laws,” NBER Macro Annual 2000.

Ib. Signaling

*Spence, Michael (1973) “Job Market Signaling,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 87(3), 355 – 374.

Stiglitz, Joseph (1986) “The Theory of “Screening,” Education, and the Distribution of Income,” American Economic Review, 66, 283 – 300.

Lang, Kevin, and David Kropp (1986) “Human Capital Versus Sorting: The Effects of Compulsory Attendance Laws,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 101(2), 609-624.

Bedard, Kelly (2001) “Human Capital Versus Signaling Models: University Access and High School Dropouts,” Journal of Political Economy 109.4, 749 – 775.

*Tyler, John, Richard J. Murnane and John Willett (2000) “Estimating the Labor Market Signaling value of the GED,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 115(2), 431-468.

II. Social Mobility, Peer Effects and Human Capital
IIa. Social Mobility

*Becker, Gary and Nigel Tomes “Human Capital and the Rise and Fall of Families,” Journal of Labor Economics 4, (1986) S1-S39.

*Solon, Gary “Intergenerational Income Mobility in the United States,” American Economic Review v82, n3 (June 1992): 393-408

Zimmerman, David J. “Regression Toward Mediocrity in Economic Stature (PDF - 1.2MB)American Economic Review v82, n3 (June 1992): 409-29

Mulligan Casey, Parental Priorities and Economic Inequality, (1997) University of Chicago Press. ISBN: 9780226548401.

Chetty, Raj, Nathaniel Hendren, Patrick Kline, Emmanuel Saez, and Nicholas Turner.  (2014) “Is the United States Still a Land of Opportunity? Recent Trends in Intergenerational MobilityAmerican Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings, 104(5), 141-147.

*— — — .(2014) “Where Is the Land of Opportunity? The Geography of Intergenerational Mobility in the United StatesThe Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 129(4), pages 1553-1623.

*Chetty, Raj, Nathaniel Hendren, and Lawrence F Katz (2016) “The Effects of Exposure to Better Neighborhoods on Children: New Evidence from the Moving to Opportunity Experiment.” American Economic Review 106.4, 855 – 902.

Roback, Jennifer (1982) “Wages, Rents and the Quality of LifeJournal of Political Economy, 90(6), 1257-1278.

*Galor, Oded and Joseph Zeira (1993) “Income Distribution and Macroeconomics.” Review of Economic Studies, 60, pp. 35-52.

*Benabou, Roland (1996) “Heterogeneity, Stratification and Growth: Macroeconomic Implications of Community Structure in School Finance (PDF - 3.2MB)American Economic Review Vol. 86, No. 3, pp. 584-609.

Fernandez, Racquel and Richard Rogerson (1996) “Income Distribution, Communities and the Quality of Public Education,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 111(1), 135-164.

Hoxby, Caroline (1996) “Are Efficiency and Equity in School Finance Substitutes or Complements”, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 51-72.

IIb. Peer Effects

Lazear, Edward P. (2001) “Educational ProductionQuarterly Journal of Economics, 116(3), 777-803.

Black, Sandra (1999) “Do Better Schools Matter? Parental Valuation of Elementary EducationQuarterly Journal of Economics, 114(3), 577-600.

Bayer, Patrick Fernando Ferreira and Robert MacMillan (2007) “Unified Framework for Measuring Preferences for Schools and Neighborhoods,” Journal of Political Economy, 115(4), 588-68.

Manski, Charles (1993) “Identification of Endogenous Social Effects: the Reflection Problem,” Review of Economic Studies, 60, 531-542.

Angrist, Joshua (2014) “The Perils of Peer Effects,” Labour Economics, vol. 30(C), pages 98- 108.

*Crépon, Bruno, Esther Duflo, Grugand, Marc, Rathelot, Roland and Philippe Zamora (2014) “Do Labor Market Policies have Displacement Effects? Evidence from a Clustered Randomized Experiment,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 128(2), pages 531-580.

*Sacerdote, Bruce (2001) “Peer Effects with Random Assignment: Results from Dartmouth RoommatesQuarterly Journal of Economics, 116, 681-704.

Zimmerman, David (2003) “Peer Effects in Higher Education: Evidence from a Natural Experiment,” Review of Economics and Statistics, 85, 9-23.

Lyle, David (2007) “Estimating and Interpreting Peer and Role Model Effects from Randomly Assigned Social Groups at West Point (PDF)” Review of Economics and Statistics, 89, 289-299.

Mas, Alex and Enrico Moretti (2009) “Peers at WorkAmerican Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(1), pages 112-45, March.

Card, David and Laura Giuliano (2013) “Peer Effects in Multiple Equilibria in the Risky Behavior of Friends,” The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(4), pages 1130-1149, October.

Bramoullé, Yann, Rachel Kranton and Martin D’Amours (2014) “Strategic Interaction and Networks,” American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(3), pages 898-930, March.

Ballester, Coralio, Antoni Calvo-Armengol, and Yves Zenou (2006) “Who’s Who in Networks: Wanted: The Key Player”, Econometrica, 74(5), 1403-1417.

*Bramoullé, Yann, Habiba Djebbari, and Bernard Fortin (2009) “Identification of Peer Effects through Social NetworksJournal of Econometrics, 150, 41-55.

Acemoglu, Daron, Camilo Jimeno García and James a Robinson (2015) “State Capacity and Economic Development: A Network Approach,” American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(8), pages 2364-2409, August.

*Carrell, Scott, Bruce Sacerdote and James West (2013) “From Natural Variation to Optimal Policy? The Lucas Critique Meets Peer EffectsEconometrica, 81(3), 855-882.  

III. Incentives, Agency and Efficiency Wages
IIIa. Multitasking

*Holmström, Bengt (1979) “Moral Hazard and Observability,” Bell Journal of Economics, 10, 74-91.

Lazear, Edward (2000) “Performance Pay and Productivity.” American Economic Review, 90(5): 1346-61.

*Holmström, Bengt and Milgrom, Paul (1991) “Multitask Principal-Agent Analyses: Incentive Contracts, Asset Ownership, and Job Design,” Journal of Law, Economics and Organization vol 7, n0 (Special Issue): 24-52.

Baker, George P. (1992) “Incentive Contracts and Performance Measurement, ” Journal of Political Economy v100, n3: 598-614.

Courty, Pascal, and Gerald Marschke (2004) “An Empirical Investigation of Gaming Responses to Explicit Performance Incentives.” Journal of Labor Economics 22: 23-56.

*Oyer, Paul (1998) “Fiscal Year Ends and Nonlinear Incentive Contracts: The Effect on Business Seasonality.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 113:149-85.

Alston, Lee, and Robert Higgs (1982) “Contractual Mix in Southern Agriculture since the Civil War: Facts, Hypotheses, and Test.” Journal of Economic History 42:327-53.

IIIb. Career Concerns in the Private and the Public Sector

*Holmström, Bengt (1999) “Managerial Incentive Problems: A Dynamic Perspective,” Review of Economic Studies 66, n1: 169-82.

Dewatripont, Mathias; Ian Jewitt; and Jean Tirole (1999) “The Economics of Career Concerns, Part I: Comparing Information Structures,” Review of Economic Studies, January, 66(1),183-198.

Dixit, Avinash (2002) “Incentives and Organizations in the Public Sector: An Interpretative Review,” Journal of Human Resources 37 (4), Fall, 696-727.

Acemoglu, Daron, Michael Kremer and Atif Mian (2007) “Incentives in Markets, Firms and Governments,” Journal of Law, Economics and Organizations, December 2007.

Chevalier, Judith and Glenn Ellison (1999) “Career Concerns of Mutual Fund Managers.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 114: 389-432.

IIIc. Efficiency Wages

*Carl Shapiro and Joseph Stiglitz (1984) “Equilibrium Unemployment as Worker Discipline Device,” American Economic Review, vol. 74(3), pages 433-44, June.

Bulow, Jeremy and Lawrence Summers (1986) “A Theory of Dual Labor Markets with Application to Industrial Policy, Discrimination and Keynesian Unemployment,” Journal of Labor Economics, Vol 4, pp 376-415.

Acemoglu, Daron and Andrew Newman (2002) “The Labor Market and Corporate Structure,” European Economic Review, December, volume 46, pp. 1733-1756.

Buy at MIT Press Lazear, Edward (1996) “Chapter 3.” In Personnel Economics. MIT University Press, ISBN: 9780262512947.

Raff, Danielle and Lawrence Summers (1987) “Did Henry Ford Pay Efficiency Wages?Journal of Labor Economics, vol. 5, S57-S86.

Campbell III, Carl M., and Kunal S. Kamlani (1997) “The Reasons for Wage Rigidity: Evidence from a Survey of Firms.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112(3), 759 – 789.

Neil, Derek (1993) “Supervision and Wages Across Industries,” Review of Economics and Statistics, August, 1993, vol. 75, pp. 409-17.

Krueger, Alan B. (1991) “Ownership, Agency and Wages: An Examination of Franchising in the Fast Food Industry.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 106(1) 75 – 101.

*Cappelli, Peter and Keith Chauvin (1991) “An Interplant Test of the Efficiency Wage Hypothesis.” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 106(3), 769 – 787.

*Krueger, Alan B, and Lawrence H. Summers (1988) “Efficiency Wages and the Inter-Industry Wage Structure,” Econometrica, 56(2) 259 - 93.

IV. Investment in Skills
IVa. Holdups and Investments

*Grout, Paul, 1984 “Investment and Wages in the Absence of Binding Contracts: A Nash Bargaining Approach,” Econometrica, 52, 449-460.

Grossman, Sanford and Oliver Hart (1986) “The Costs and Benefits of Ownership: a Theory of Vertical and Lateral Integration,” Journal of Political Economy, vol. 94, pp. 691-719.

Hart, Oliver and John H. Moore, 1990 “Property Rights and the Nature of the Firm,” Journal of Political Economy, 98, 1119-58.

IVb. Investment in General Skills

Acemoglu, Daron (1997a) “Training and Innovation in An Imperfect Labor Market,” Review of Economic Studies 64, 445-464.

*Acemoglu, Daron and Jorn-Steffen Pischke (1998). “Why Do Firms Train: Theory and Evidence”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 113, No. 1, pp. 79-119.

*— — — (1999). “The Structure of Wages and Investment in General Training,” Journal of Political Economy, vol 107, June 1999, pp. 539-572.

*Autor, David H. (2001) “Why do Temporary Help Firms Provide Free General Skills Training?”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 116, No. 3, pp. 1409-1448.

Acemoglu, Daron and Jorn-Steffen Pischke (1999). “Beyond Becker: Training in Imperfect Labour Markets,” Economic Journal vol 109 February 1999, pp F112-142.

— — — (2000) “Minimum Wages and on-the-Job Training," Research in Labor Economics 22, 2003, 159-202.

IVc. Specific Skills, Investments and Learning

Topel, Robert (1991). “Specific Capital, Mobility, and Wages: Wages Rise with Job Seniority,” Journal of Political Economy v99, n1 145-76.

*Jacobson, Louis, Robert LaLonde and Daniel Sullivan (1993). “Earning Losses of Displaced Workers,” American Economic Review, vol. 83, pp. 685-709.

Neal, Derek (1995). “Industry-Specific Human Capital: Evidence From Displaced Workers,” Journal of Labor Economics, October, 1995, vol. 13, pp. 653-77.

Altonji, Joseph and R. Shakotko (1987). “Do Wages Rise With Seniority?Review of Economies Studies, 54, 1987, 437-459.

Abraham, Katherine and Henry Farber (1986). “Job Duration, Seniority, and Earnings,” American Economic Review, 1986, 278-297.

*Jovanovic, Boyan (1979). “Job Matching and the Theory of Turnover,” Journal of Political Economy, 1979, 972-990.

*— — —(1979). “Firm Specific Capital and Turnover,” Journal of Political Economy, 1979, 1246-1260.

*Lazear, Edward (2003). “Firm-Specific Human Capital: A Skill Weights Approach.” NBER Working Paper No. 9679.

Topel, Robert and Michael Ward (1992). “Job Mobility and the Careers of Young Men,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 107 [2], 439-479.

*Prendergast, Canice (1993). “The Role of Promotion in Inducing Specific Human Capital Acquisition”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 108, No. 2, pp. 523-534.

Charmichael, Lorne, (1983). “Firm-Specific Capital and Promotion Ladders”, Bell Journal of Economics, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 251-258.

Buy at MIT Press Lazear, Edward P. Personnel Economics, (Cambridge: MIT Press), 1995, Chapter 7. ISBN: 9780262512947.

Farber, Henry and Robert Gibbons (1996). “Learning and Wage Dynamics,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 111, 107-147.

V. Search and Unemployment
Va. Unemployment, Non-Employment and Labor Market Flows

*Nickell, Steve (1997) “Unemployment and Labor Market Rigidities: Europe versus North America,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol 11, pp. 55-74.

Shimer, Robert (1998) “Why Is the U.S. Unemployment Rate So Much Lower? (PDF)Macroeconomics Annual, 1998.

*Juhn, Chinhui, Kevin Murphy and Robert H. Topel, (1991) “Why Has the Natural Rate of Unemployment Increased over Time?" Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 1991(2) pp.75- 126.

*Elsby, Michael, Bart Hobjin and Aysegul Sahin (2010) “The Labor Market in the Great Recession,” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, vol. 41(1 (Spring), pages 1-69 OECD (1994); Jobs Study Volumes 1 and 2.

Blanchard, Olivier and Peter Diamond (1989); “The Beveridge Curve,” Brookings Papers on Economics Activity 1989:1, pp 1-60.

Vb. The Partial Equilibrium Search Model *Rogerson, Richard, Robert Shimer and Randall Wright (2004) “Search Models of the Labor Market: A Survey,” Journal of Economic Literature, 43, pp. 959-988.
Vc. The Basic Equilibrium Search Framework

*Buy at MIT Press Pissarides, Christopher. Equilibrium Unemployment Theory, MIT Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780252533980. 

Hosios, Arthur (1990) “On the Efficiency of Matching and Related Models of Search and Unemployment.” Review of Economics Studies 57:2, 279-98.

*Mortensen, Dale and Christopher Pissarides (1994). “Job Creation and Job Destruction in the Theory of Unemployment,” Review of Economic Studies Vol 61, pp 397-416.

Vd. Assignment Models

Rosen, Sherwin (1981) “The Economics of Superstars,” American Economic Review, 71, pp. 845-858.

*Sattinger, Michael (1975) “Comparative Advantage and the Distribution of Earnings and Abilities,” Econometrica, 43, pp. 455-468.

*Teulings, Coen N. (1995) “The Wage Distribution in a Model of the Assignment of Skills to Jobs,” Journal of Political Economy, 103, pp. 280-315.

*Gabaix, Xavier and Augustin Landier (2006) “Why Has CEO Pay Has Increased So Much?Quarterly Journal of Economics, 123, pp. 49-100.

Tervio, Marko (2008) “The Difference that CEOs Make: An Assignment Model Approach,” American Economic Review, 98, pp. 642-668.

Acemoglu, Daron, David Laibson and John List (2014) “Equalizing Superstars: The Internet and the Democratization of EducationAmerican Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings, pp. 523-527.

Ve. The Composition of Jobs

*Acemoglu, Daron (2001), “Good Jobs vs Bad Jobs,” Journal of Labor Economics, Janaury 2001,vol 19, pp 1-22.

* Acemoglu, Daron (1999). “Changes in Unemployment and Wage Inequality: An Alternative Theory and Some Evidence,” American Economic Review 89(6), 1259-1278.

Autor, David and David Dorn (2013) “The Growth of Low-Skill Service Jobs and Polarization in the US Labor Market,” American Economic Review, 103(5), 1553-1597

Jaimovich, Nir and Henry Siu (2013) “The Trend Is the Cycle: Job Polarization and Jobless Recoveries,” NBER Working Papers 18334.

Foote, Christopher L. and Richard W. Ryan (2015) “Labor Market Polarization over the Business Cycle,” NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2015 29:1, 371-413.

Vf. Real Wage Rigidity, Unemployment and Unemployment Persistence

Shimer, Robert (2005) “The Cyclical Behavior of Equilibrium Unemployment in Vacancies,” American Economic Review, vol 95, 25-49.

Hall, Robert E. (2008) “Limited Influence of Unemployment on the Wage Bargain,” American Economic Review, vol 98, 1653-1674.

*Shimer, Robert (2008) “The Consequences of Rigid Wages and Search ModelsJournal of European Economic Association, vol 2, 469-479.

*Pissarides, Christopher (2009) “The Unemployment Volatility Puzzle: Is Wage Stickiness the Answer?Econometrica, vol 77, 1339-1369.

Shimer, Robert (2012) “Wage Rigidities and Jobless Recoveries,” Journal of Monetary Economics, 59, S65-S77.

Vg. Nominal Wage Rigidity and

* Bewley, Truman (1999), Why Wages Don’t Fall During a Recession, Harvard University Press. ISBN: 9780674009431.

* Card, David and Dean Hyslop (1997). “Does Inflation Grease the Wheels of the Labor Market?” In C. D. Romer and D. H. Romer (eds.), Reducing Inflation: Motivation and Strategy. NBER, Studies in Business Cycles, 30. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN: 9780226724843.

Baker, George, Michael Gibbs and Bengt Holmström (1994), “The Wage Policy of a Firm,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 109(4), pp. 921-955.

Dickens W.T., L. Goette, E.L. Groshen, S. Holden, J. Messina, M.E. Schweitzer, J. Turunen, and M.E. Ward (2007). “How Wages Change: Micro Evidence from the International Flexibility Project,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 21(2),195-214.

*Fehr, Ernest, and Lorenz Goette (2005), “Robustness and Real Consequences of Nominal Wage Rigidity,” Journal of Monetary Economics, vol. 52(4), pages 779-804.

Nickell, Steve , and Glenda Quintini (2003). “Nominal Wage Rigidity and the Rate of Inflation.” The Economic Journal vol. 113, 762–781.

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