Showing papers in "Journal of Human Resources in 1976"

School Disegregation, "Tipping," and Private School Enrollment.

Abstract: This paper examines the role of school desegregation in the demand for private school enrollment by whites. A model is presented that emphasizes the interdependence of whites' private enrollment decisions and introduces the possibility of "tipping points" in white flight from public schools. In order to assess the importance of racial composition on white private school enrollment, data from two samples are analyzed. This empirical analysis supports the hypothesis that desegregation has a significant effect on private school enrollment and that this effect is greater in districts with high proportions of nonwhites. In northern as well as southern cities, there is a growing recognition that the problem of "white flight" from desegregating schools threatens the long-run efficacy of desegregation policies. There are fears that this white flight-to predominantly white private schools or suburban systems-may bring about the virtual resegregation of schools in this country. In addition, these trends may be fostering the separation of low income students from higher income students, especially where private school enrollment is involved. Whether these fears are in fact justified is open to question, however. This paper examines one aspect of the white flight problem-the alternative to the public schools that is provided by enrollment in private schools. The central aim is to assess the impact of public school desegregation on private enrollment among white households. Special attention is given to two questions of particular interest in the evaluation of school policy: (1) whether there is a "tipping point" in white flight from public to private schools, and (2) how family income modifies the effect of The author is Assistant Professor of Economics, Bureau of Business and Economic Research, University of Maryland. * I would like to thank Martin Feldstein, Richard Freeman, John Kain, Thomas Schelling, members of the Harvard labor seminar, and the editor and a referee of this Journal for their comments on earlier versions of this paper. Support was provided by the Ford Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the University of Maryland Computer Science Center. [Manuscript received September 1974; accepted April 1975.] The Journal of Human Resources XI * 1 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.115 on Sat, 08 Oct 2016 05:16:13 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms

On Dogmatism in Human Capital Theory

Abstract: Every scholar in the fields of human capital or income distribution is indebted to Jacob Mincer [14, 15] for his pioneering work in integrating these two branches of economic theory. His contributions have been so forceful and original that there is now a danger that he may have succeeded too well, that the lessons he has taught us are hardening into dogma. In particular Rosenzweig and Morgan [17] seem to accept without question a specific functional form developed by Mincer wherein the logarithm of earnings is a linear function of years of schooling (S) and a quadratic function of a variable j defined as:

Earnings Functions and Nonpecuniary Benefits

Abstract: Past empirical studies of earnings functions have used only pecuniary earnings measures. In this article, pecuniary, fringe, and certain nonpecuniary benefits are treated as additive components of a more comprehensive measure of labor market reward. The implications of including these additional benefits for estimates of earnings functions are assessed with two national sample data sets. It is found that the explanatory power of the simple human capital earnings model increases as the nonwage variables are added into the earnings measure. The importance of education clearly increases when fringe and nonpecuniary benefits are added; the change in the association between labor market experience and earnings is small. The increased importance of education is sustained even when measures of cognitive skills, motivation, and family background are taken into account.

Individual traits and organizational incentives: what makes a "good" worker?

Abstract: This paper focuses on the organization of the firm in order to investigate what worker attributes and behavior get rewarded in the large enterprise. It develops a Marxian model of the firm, stressing the importance of the social (boss-worker) relations, to counterpose to the neoclassical tradition's emphasis on technological (people-nature) relations, especially as the latter is expressed in the "human capital" framework. On the basis of two samples of workers, it finds considerable support for the importance of the Marxian variables. The paper concludes by noting the similar work of other radical economists in developing a neo-Marxian theory of the firm. Press On! Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not: unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education alone will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determina

Earnings, education, genetics, and environment.

Abstract: A major and well-recognized difficulty in estimating the effects of education on earnings is that the more educated are likely to be more able, irrespective of education. If ability also determines earnings and is not controlled, ordinary least squares will yield biased estimates of the education coefficient. In this study, we use data on identical twins to control for differences in ability that arise from genetic endowments and family environment. Not controlling for genetics and family environment may cause a large bias, up to two-thirds of the noncontrolled coefficient.

Factors affecting the incomes of men and women physicians: an exploratory analysis.

Abstract: Income differences between men and women physicians are analyzed using data from the American Medical Association's 1973 Eighth Periodic Survey of Physicians. While women tend to possess less favorable professional characteristics in terms of income-earning potential, the returns to many characteristics associated with higher incomes are greater for women than for men. Additional evidence on differences in weekly hours worked is presented in an effort to explain the lower incomes of women doctors. The woman who becomes a physician gains entrance to one of the highest paid of all professions.l Yet, even within medicine, women's incomes are considerably lower than those earned by men. This paper reports on an analysis of incomes from medical practice earned by men and women physicians based on data obtained from a recent American Medical Association (AMA) survey.2 As

Government Wage Differentials by Sex

Abstract: A model is presented for estimating a human-capital wage-rate function that accounts for the effects of differences in the strength of attachment to the labor force on the incentives to invest in human capital without requiring detailed information on work history. Using data from the May 1973 Current Population Survey tape, this model is estimated on all males and on all females to study differences in differentials between sexes and between the public and private sectors. The results suggest that sex is an important source of differences in government differentials. Women appear to enjoy a premium in wages as a result of government employment, and this premium increases with the level of government.

The demand for dental care: a study of consumption and household production.

Abstract: Within the context of a Becker-type consumer's choice model, this paper reports an empirical study of the demand for dental care for approximately 1,000 households. The unique feature of the study is that waiting time and travel time as well as price and other traditional economic variables are entered into the regression analysis. Generally, the results confirm our expectations derived from theory, but elasticities with respect to all of the above-mentioned determinants of demand were small. In addition, some of the subtle predictions of the theory could not be confirmed.

The Demand for Nursing Home Care: An Analysis of the Substitution Between Institutional and Noninstitutional Care

Abstract: This paper analyzes the demand for nursing home care for the aged. The cross-sectional analysis indicates a high price elasticity of demand (-2.2), and that the demand is greater the less capable are the aged of providing own care, the better the job opportunities of adult women, and the wealthier the SMSA. Utilization increased 67percentfrom 1963 to 1973,but 64 percentage points is attributable to changes in these demand shift variables. This casts doubt on the view that the growth in utilization was largely stimulated by changing public policies during the period.

Occupational Advancement in the Late 1960s: An Indirect Test of the Dual Labor Market Hypothesis

Abstract: occu ational mobility of black and white males during.the late 1960s is examined to test the hypotheses that large-and systematic racial differentials exist in both between -firm and,within,-firm job 0 upgrading. LongitudiUal data from the 1970 Census and the National Longitudinal Surveys are used in the empirical analysis. Neither, sample provides evidence of a systematic racial differential /n the effect:of interfirm mobility on occupational advancement. The evidence with respect to intrafirm advancement is less unequivocal. Given the racial differential in initial occupational levels, however, only small black -white differences in.advancement appear, within internal labor markets.

Employment Discrimination in the Federal Sector

Abstract: On the surface, the raw differentials in earnings and employment between blacks and whites and males and females in the federal service suggest that employment opportunities are far from equal. To further investigate this issue, micro data from the 1970 Census are used to compare the earnings and employment of federal workers having similar productivity characteristics but differing in race or sex. Even after adjusting for productivity differentials, earnings and employment opportunities in federal service are shown to vary by race and sex.

Returns to Education for Blacks, Anglos, and Five Spanish Groups.

Abstract: In 1970, returns to education were 30 percent higher for men of Cuban and Central or South American origin than for non-Spanish, nonblack (Anglo) men, Puerto Rican men, or "Other Spanish" men Returns for black and Chicano men were about 70 percent of those for Anglo men These differences are not explained by differences in nativity, mother tongue, age, years of education, or marital status Differences in discrimination, quality of schooling, and class origin may be the causes, but data are insufficient to draw firm conclusions

Nonlinear Earnings Functions, Age, and Experience: A Nondogmatic Reply and Some Additional Evidence

Abstract: We are delighted that Blinder has been inspired by our criticism of his article [1] to write a detailed critique of Jacob Mincer's derivation of a now well-known earnings function in [5]. However, the extensive discussion in Blinder's paper [2] is based on a misinterpretation of our main argument. It was not our intention to assert or prove that one earnings specification is superior to another-that is an empirical question that we did not attempt to answer in [6]. Instead we sought to demonstrate that Blinder's conclusions in [1] regarding the differential in rates of return to schooling between males and females are subject to important qualifications. Blinder's lengthy reply, while it touches on many of the problems underlying the specification and interpretation of his original empirical results, much of which should have been included in his original paper, contains material not directly relevant to the main questions raised in our comment.

Intradistrict Distribution of School Inputs to the Disadvantaged: Evidence for the Courts.

Abstract: This paper details a method for those interested in investigating the equity aspects of intradistrict distributions of educational resources. It should be viewed as a procedure for post Hobson v. Hansen lawyers which steps away from some of the speculative quality of the evidence that has been, and is still, being used. Using detailed individual school data in a systematic way allows the investigator to delineate which unequally distributed resources positively contribute to stated equity objectives, which resources are outside the school administration's control, and what the overall Equity picture is, starting from the components. Using aggregate measures, such as per pupil expenditures in each school, does not permit this, and results in much debate on whether or not one particular componentschool size, for example--explains away the expenditure variations. The method is applied to data for the Philadelphia School District.

Labor in the Public and Nonprofit Sectors

Abstract: Originally presented at a Conference on Labor in Nonprofit Industry and Government held at Princeton University, these studies are the first to provide an economic discussion of the public sector labor market. Melvin Reder examines the effect of the absence of the profit motive on employment and wage determination in the public sector. Orley Ashenfelter and Ronald Ehrenberg estimate the elasticities of demand for various types of labor employed by state and local governments. Theoretical ideas about behavior in nonprofit industries are employed by Richard Freeman to study the higher education industry. John Burton and Charles Krider try to predict the incidence of strikes in the public sector, while Donald Frey presents a model of the behavior of school boards in hiring faculty. The magnitude of the extra wage received by unionized public employees is compared by Daniel Hamermesh to that of private unionized workers in the same occupation. Originally published in 1975. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The distribution of subsidy to students in california public higher education

Abstract: This paper examines two features of the Hansen-Weisbrod study of costs and benefits of public higher education in California. It argues that the family group wherein the head is between 35 and 60 years of age is the most appropriate universe with which to compare the income of students' parents, and that student financial aid must be added to tuition subsidies to obtain the total subsidy given to students in California public higher education. When these adjustments are made and the data are updated to 1971-72, it is concluded that the subsidy granted to students in each segment of public higher education in California was, both on the average and in the aggregate, larger for students from below-average-income families than that granted to students from families with above-average incomes.

School Retention of Teenagers Over the Business Cycle.

Abstract: Variation in school retention and enrollment rates of teenagers, males and females, all races and nonwhites, are examined over the business cycle for the postwar period. It is found that both the retention and enrollment rates of teenage girls vary procyclically. For teenage boys, however, there is no response of enrollment and retention rates to changes in business conditions (with the exception of nonwhite males whose enrollment rates vary countercyclically). This difference in cyclical sensitivity is attributed to the lesser degree of cyclical variation in opportunity costs for teenage girls than for teenage boys, which results from girls' superior productive opportunities in the home. This paper examines how school enrollment and retention rates respond to changes in overall business conditions. A primary motivation for studying this relationship stems from the preoccupation of both government and social critics with the high incidence of teenage unemployment.l If teenagers' schooling decisions are in fact related to the level of unemployment (which reflects their opportunity costs), government policies directed at improving the job opportunities of school dropouts may have the undesirable side-effect of encouraging more teenagers to suspend their schooling. In this study I analyze postwar cyclical variations in the school retention and enrollment rates of teenagers, both males and females, all races and nonThe author is Assistant Professor, Queens College, City University of New York. * I am indebted to Barry Chiswick, Franklin Edwards, and Jacob Mincer for numerous comments on earlier drafts of this paper, and to Glen Cain and anonymous referees for aid in preparing the final revision. 1 Teenage unemployment rates are higher than average unemployment rates at all stages of the cycle, and they display greater (absolute) dispersion. For example, over the 1960-74 period, the unemployment rate of 16-17-year-old not-enrolled males ranged from a high of 28.5 percent in 1970 to a low of 14.8 percent in 1964 (the corresponding figures for all 16-17-year-old males are 18.8 percent in 1963 and 13.7 percent in 1966), while the unemployment rate of all males aged 16 years and over ranged from a high of 6.4 percent in 1961 to a low of 2.8 percent in 1969. Source: [13], Table B-7 and A-19. The Journal of Human Resources XI 2 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.104 on Mon, 20 Jun 2016 07:30:38 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms

Sex and Race Difference in Nonacademic Wages on a University Campus.

Abstract: This study tests the hypothesis that, when other variables are taken into account, race and sex are not statistically significant in explaining wages in different occupations. The results, using data for the nonacademic work force of a large university campus, do not support the hypothesis. On the contrary, they show that sex and race influence the pattern of wage rates and earnings by occupation. Albeit the study has limitations, the results point to the conclusion that discrimination is a factor in determining rewards by occupation.

Must a negative income tax reduce labor supply? a study of the family's allocation of time*

Abstract: Models of the labor-supply behavior of single persons predict that a negative income tax (NIT) will always reduce the labor supply and earnings of such persons. I consider three models of family labor supply and find that, in all three, an NIT might raise a given family member's labor supply and might also raise total family labor supply. In one model, an NIT could even raise total family earnings. These models and recent empirical estimates (showing positive NIT effects on some family members' labor supply and on some families' earnings) suggest that the work disincentive effects and the cost of an NIT may be less that has previously been thought.