Showing papers on "Human capital published in 1988"
TL;DR: In this paper, the concept of social capital is introduced and illustrated, its forms are described, the social structural conditions under which it arises are examined, and it is used in an analys...
Abstract: In this paper, the concept of social capital is introduced and illustrated, its forms are described, the social structural conditions under which it arises are examined, and it is used in an analys...
31,693 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider the prospects for constructing a neoclassical theory of growth and international trade that is consistent with some of the main features of economic development, and compare three models and compared to evidence.
16,965 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: Social capital is a particular kind of resource available to an actor as discussed by the authors, and it is productive and makes achievement of ends possible, but it is not completely fungible and does not share features with public goods.
Abstract: Introduces and illustrates the concept of social capital, describes its forms, and examines the social structures in which it arises. An application of the concept is used in analyzing high school dropouts. The theory is set in the context of rational action, with sociological and economic explanations (both of which are criticized and revised). Social capital as a resource for action is a way of importing the principle of rational action in the analysis of social systems, including economic systems. Social capital is a particular kind of resource available to an actor. Although not completely fungible, it is productive and makes achievement of ends possible. It inheres in the structure of relations between and among actors. It also shares features with public goods (in that it benefits all who are part of the structure). Social capital is employed in the creation of human capital, which is created by changes in persons that create skills and capabilities that enable them to act in new ways. It is especially important in creating human capital in the next generation. Social capital is one of three components (along with financial capital and human capital) in family background. An application of the concept of social capital is undertaken by examining the effect of its lack in high school sophomores on their drop-out rate. The study draws on the data in the High School and Beyond dataset. Various analyses show that social capital in the family is an educational resource of children, just as are the family's financial and social capital. For example, frequent family moves disrupt the family's social capital, and each move increases the child's dropout rate. Low drop out rates at Catholic and private schools are also indicators of a child's social capital outside the school. (TNM)
1,892 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1988
TL;DR: The MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES, 16th EDITION as mentioned in this paper, provides a broad overview of current HR issues and current practices with more than 500 memorable examples from a variety of real organizations.
Abstract: Gain a better understanding of how human resources impacts both individuals and organizations with this market-leading, practical text. Snell/Bohlander's popular MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES, 16TH EDITION builds upon a foundation of research and theory with an inviting, practical framework that focuses on today's most critical HR issues and current practices. The book's engaging writing style and strong visual design use more than 500 memorable examples from a variety of real organizations to illustrate key points and connect concepts to current HR practice. Fresh cases spotlight the latest developments and critical trends, while hands-on applications focus on practical tips and suggestions for success.
1,271 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluated the performance of low-income labor markets with reference to the models that have been and continue to be influential in shaping the study of such markets and evaluated these models in terms of their ability to shed light on the realities of the allocation, pricing, and employment of labor in low income countries.
Abstract: Publisher Summary Labor being by far the most abundant resource in low-income countries, the determination of the returns to labor plays a central role in models of development The chapter discusses the operation of low-income labor markets with reference to the models that have been and continue to be influential in shaping the study of such markets These models are evaluated in terms of their ability to shed light on the realities of the allocation, pricing, and employment of labor in low-income countries The chapter discusses models directly concerned with and evidence on the employment and pricing of labor in the rural (agricultural) sector The chapter also discusses the process of determining rural wages are and their rigidity, the social and private costs of reallocating labor from agriculture to other activities, labor supply behavior, labor market dualism, and unemployment determination The chapter describes risk-mitigating and effort-eliciting contractual arrangements involving rural labor and the organization of the agricultural enterprise in an environment characterized by incomplete markets The chapter discusses the issue of whether labor is efficiently allocated across sectors and across geographical areas and problems of barriers to mobility Models of migration incorporating human capital investments, information and capital constraints, uncertainty with respect to employment, riskiness in annual incomes, temporary migration, remittances, and heterogeneity in preferences and abilities among workers are discussed The chapter also discusses urban labor markets, and addresses issues concerning the duality of urban labor markets and unemployment determination The chapter highlights issues of importance to the study of developing economies—in particular, life cycle and intergenerational labor market mobility
312 citations
TL;DR: This paper used the 1973 and 1977 Quality of Employment Surveys to test the assumtion that women allocate less effort to work because of their family and household responsibilities, and found that on average, women allocate more effort to working than do men.
Abstract: Recent developments in human capital theory suggest that men and women differ in how they allocate effort to work activities. This paper uses the 1973 and 1977 Quality of Employment Surveys to test the assumtion that women allocate less effort to work because of their family and household responsibilities. Regression and ordered probit analyses show that, on average, women allocate more effort to work than do men. Further, the sex difference is substantial when men and women with comparable family situations and market human capital are compared. The paper discusses how experiments on sex differences in standards of "personal entitlement" and research on sex-segregated workplaces provide an alternative to the economists' perspective. Finally, the paper argues for an integration of human capital models, research on social equity, and structural theories of work organization in order to provide a more complete explanation of men's and women's orientations toward work and family.
300 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a general specification of the earnings function is derived from allocation models of the labor market, which contains the human capital specification and the job competition specification as special cases, and proves superior to both.
293 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the Heckman procedure is used to correct for sample selection bias in estimating wage offer and net labor market supply equations, and the authors show that wages are affected by education and experience.
252 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the relationship between the steepness of worker profiles and turnover in the United States and Japan and found that the latter is the main reason for the steeper tenure-wage slopes and lower turnover.
Abstract: The starting point of this study is the proposition that intensive formation of human capital on the job is the basic proximate reason for the strong degree of worker attachment to the firm in Japan. The greater emphasis on training and retraining, much of it specific to the firm, results also in steeper wage trajectories, due to growth of skills in the firm. Several previous studies viewed the differences between Japanese and U.S. labor markets in the light of the same hypothesis. We explore this insight more thoroughly by a detailed use of microdata for the two countries: we measure wage profiles and turnover in age groups and we test the inverse relation between the two on industry sectors within each of the countries. Numerical estimates of this relation permit us to conclude that as much as two-thirds of the differential in turnover between the two countries is explainable by the differences in the steepness of the profiles. The question remains why the emphasis on human capital formation on the job is so much greater in Japan than in the United States. Our answer is that such emphasis is conditioned by rapid economic growth. More specifically, Japanese labor policies in the firm represent adjustments of worker skills and activities to the very rapid technological changes of the past decades. Using productivity growth indexes for industries in the United States and Japan we test the hypothesis that rapid technical change, which induces greater and continuous training, is in part responsible for steeper profiles and for lesser turnover. The hypothesis is confirmed on the sectoral level in both countries. We conclude that differences in productivity growth between the United States and Japan account for up to 80% of the differences in the steepness of wage profiles, and indirectly for the differences in turnover. Finally, we try to standardize for the cultural background of workers, by observing a sample of Japanese plants in the United States which employ American workers and use Japanese labor policies in recruitment and training. We find that the steeper tenure-wage slopes and lower turnover place this sample closer to Japan than to the United States—about two-thirds of the distance.
242 citations
TL;DR: The extension of economic analysis to problems beyond the domain of formal markets and explicit prices represents a major recent intellectual development as mentioned in this paper. But "economic imperialism" is not new and was not invented in Chicago.
Abstract: The extension of economic analysis to problems beyond the domain of formal markets and explicit prices represents a major recent intellectual development. But "economic imperialism" is not new and was not invented in Chicago. Adam Smith, in his Wealth of Nations, extended economic reasoning to a variety of nonmarket exchange problems. One example is his analysis of religious behavior. Smith viewed participation in religion as a rational device by which individual enhanced the value of their human capital. He also explained the behavior of the clergy and other suppliers of religious services from an economic perspective.
237 citations
TL;DR: The East Asian model of economic development focuses on five shared characteristics that seem significant in the contemporary economic development of Japan Taiwan and Korea as discussed by the authors They are economic characteristics and include 1) high investment ratios 2) small public sectors 3) competitive labor markets 4) export expansion and 5) government intervention in the economy Large and efficient investments in human capital and well-developed capacities to absorb new technology are two other economic features shared by The Three One could add overcrowding (high man/land ratios) and scarcity of natural resources though these are handicaps rather than sources of economic strength.
Abstract: The East Asian model of economic development focuses on 5 shared characteristics that seem significant in the contemporary economic development of Japan Taiwan and Korea They are economic characteristics and include 1) high investment ratios 2) small public sectors 3) competitive labor markets 4) export expansion and 5) government intervention in the economy Large and efficient investments in human capital and well-developed capacities to absorb new technology are 2 other economic features shared by The Three One could add overcrowding (high man/land ratios) and scarcity of natural resources though these are handicaps rather than sources of economic strength It is possible however that virtue springs from necessity and that ample arable land or abundant natural resources mainly permit governments to postpone the difficult decisions needed to promote development rather than provide the wherewithal needed to finance development Other noneconomic characteristics of The Three such as ethnic and linguistic homogeneity relatively compact geography manageable population size and the Confucian tradition have not been considered in the model even though they have undoubtedly influenced labor productivity savings behavior and other aspects of economic performance Whether the East Asian model ought to be followed depends on whether current and foreseeable circumstances are sufficiently like those faced by The Three to justify using the same policies that they used Applicability of the East Asian model should also depend on whether the strategy employed by The Three has been responsible for their economic success 2 aspects of the East Asian models policy features are noteworthy: 1) the policies typically work by influencing rather than replacing private market decisions and 2) the public expects government to intervene to influence economic growth
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the first two elements of the dual labor market model, namely a description of the income distribution, a claim about the absence of market clearing, and a radical departure from the standard neoclassical assumption of fully rational actors and exogenously determined preferences.
Abstract: According to dual labor market theory, the labor market can be usefully described as consisting of two sectors: a high-wage (primary) sector with good working conditions, stable employment, and substantial returns to human capital variables such as education and experience, and a low-wage (secondary) sector with the opposite characteristics. Moreover, primary jobs are rationed, that is, not all workers who are qualified for primary sector jobs and desire one can obtain one. Finally, the sector of the labor market in which an individual is employed directly influences his or her tastes, behavior patterns, and cognitive abilities. Thus the dual labor market model or, more generally, segmented labor market models, is simultaneously a description of the income distribution, a claim about the absence of market clearing, and a radical departure from the standard neoclassical assumption of fully rational actors and exogenously determined preferences. While this last element is potentially the most interesting, even its proponents fail to give it the attention it deserves, and related work has not been incorporated into the segmented labor market model. In this paper, we therefore concentrate on the first two elements of the model. Segmented labor market theory was sufficiently popular in the late 1960's and early 1970's to be taken seriously by prominent mainstream labor economists. However, two influential and largely negative reviews (Glenn Cain, 1976; Michael Wachter, 1974) portrayed the segmented labor market hypothesis as largely atheoretical and based, at best, on questionable statistical analysis. It seems fair to say that even sympathetic mainstream critics felt that key insights from the segmented labor model could be incorporated into neoclassical analysis and that the remaining elements of the model did not form a sufficiently coherent theory to pose a challenge to the neoclassical model. Whatever the merits of this perception, it is clear that advocates of the segmented labor market approach did not develop a formal theory which conformed to the standards of mainstream economists. With some notable exceptions (Michael Piore, 1975; David Gordon, 1972), the work was atheoretical. Moreover, the empirical methods used tended to fall outside the norm (for example; interviews, observational studies, and historical and institutional analysis). Advocates of the segmented labor market perspective, mostly radical political economists, chose instead to develop their own research program outside the mainstream. The reemergence of segmented labor market theory is linked with the reversal of these two tendencies. The theory has been pursued by economists using modern tools of imperfect information theory and state-of-the-art econometrics. As a result, the approach has again attracted the attention of the mainstream. Even a few years ago, it would have been a clairvoyant observer who predicted that Lawrence Summers would be working on a theoretical model of labor market duality (with Jeremy Bulow, 1986), that Robert Solow would count among his recent work a dual market model (with Ian McDonald, 1985) and that James Heckman would publish an article in which he undertook an empirical test of a dual market model, failed to reject the model, and then devoted much of the rest of the article to attacking his and other tests of the dual labor market view (see his article with V. Joseph Hotz, 1986). Since the theoretical developments are largely associated with efficiency wage and *Departments of Economics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 and NBER, and Boston University, 270 Bay State Road, Boston MA 02215 and NBER, respectively. This study was supported in part by NSF grant no. SES-8606139. Lang acknowledges support from a Sloan Faculty Research Fellowship; Dickens acknowledges support from the Institute of Industrial Relations at Berkeley.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on how the development and evaluation of human capital varies across cultural settings and on the implications this has for the degree of gender stratification in the economy.
Abstract: Gender stratification theory can be informed by a cross-cultural perspective and greater attention to the embeddedness of stratification processes within the social context. This article focuses on how the development and evaluation of human capital varies across cultural settings and on the implications this has for the degree of gender stratification in the economy. An argument is made for the theoretical utility of the concept of a human capital development system, constituded by the way social institutions-and social actors in those institutions-share the responsibilities of human capital development across the individual's life cycle. Japan is seen as having a system of human capital development that encourages the maintenance of greater gender stratification than the American system.
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors decompose inter-vivos transfers into human capital formation and other inter vivos transfer, and propose a model in which parents use the prospect of bequests to exact services from their children: "we envision a testator who, though altruistic, is also affected by actions taken individually by a number of potential beneficiaries (he may, e.g., enjoy receiving attention from his children)" (1985, p. 1046).
Abstract: Why do parents make inter vivos transfers to their children and leave them postmortem bequests?1 Gary Becker's notions of "altruism" (1981, ch. 8)-by which he means that children's utilities are arguments of their parents' utility function-provides one explanation. Denoting the children's utility functions by U'(ci), where ci denotes consumption by child i, the preferences of parents with two children can be represented by a utility function of the form W[cp, U1(c1), U2(c2)] where cp is the parents' own consumption.2 In the altruistic model, parents' sole motive for intergenerational transfers is to increase their children's utility. In other models, however, parents may have nonaltruistic as well as altruistic motives for transferring resources to their children. The literature on economic development emphasizes old-age support as a motive for fertility and, to a lesser degree, as a motive for providing children with human capital as part of an explicit or implicit intergenerational contract. When human capital formation is the primary focus of the analysis, as in discussions of education and earnings, it is useful to decompose inter vivos transfers into "human capital formation" and "other inter vivos transfers." Such a decomposition can mislead in discussing intergenerational transfers, however, because it obscures the fact that the provision of human capital by parents constitutes an intergenerational transfer. Laurence Kotlikoff and Avia Spivak (1981) analyze another old-age support model, one in which the family operates as an "incomplete annuities market." In their model, children make regular transfers to their aging parents, and the share that each child contributes to the parents determines his or her share of the parental estate. Although the prospect of old-age support may be an important motive for "downstream" intergenerational transfers (i.e., from parents to children) in some societies, in the United States today " upstream" transfers appear too small and too uncertain to make this motive credible. To explain downstream transfers in the United States today, economists have investigated other models in which parents have selfish as well as selfless motives. For example, B. Douglas Bernheim, Andrei Shleifer, and Lawrence Summers propose a model in which parents use the prospect of bequests to exact services from their children: "we envision a testator who, though altruistic, is also affected by actions taken individually by a number of potential beneficiaries (he may, e.g., enjoy receiving attention from his children)" (1985, p. 1046). Bernheim et al. assume that such actions increase parents' utility and decrease children's utilities. In their model the children's utility functions become U1(ai, ci), where ai denotes services the ith child provides the parents, and the parents' utility function becomes W[cp, al, a2, Ul(al, c1),U2(a2, cA]. To measure these services, Bernheim et al. use frequency of contact (i.e., visits plus telephone calls) between parents and children. This approach expands the concept of child services to include those provided by adult children who live outside the parents' household in an attempt to explain bequests and inter vivos transfers. "Child services" originally appeared in discussions of fertility and the allocation of resources to young children living with their parents, and thus tends to evoke the joys of young parenthood *University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, and University of Washington. I am grateful to the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health for financial support, to Gary Becker, Samuel Preston, David Stapleton, and Paul Taubman for helpful comments, and to Judith Farnbach for editonal assistance. 1 Even if bequests are unplanned, as some versions of the life cycle savings model assume, inter vivos transfers must be intentional. 21 ignore the possible dependence of the children's utility on their own children's utility, etc., because it is not relevant to the issues discussed in this paper.
TL;DR: The theory of human capital suggests that one's wage varies positively with one's formal education and informal training as discussed by the authors, and a common proxy for informal training is experience, which is used in the real estate industry.
Abstract: The theory of human capital suggests that one's wage varies positively with one's formal education and informal training. A common proxy for informal training is experience. In the the real estate ...
TL;DR: Multiple regression analysis shows that the variables that have the strongest effect on economic growth rates are: direct foreign investment, which has a negative effect; the proportion of the population in military service; and the primary school enrollment ratio, both of which have positive effects of economic, growth.
Abstract: Even if questions of how resources aredistributed within and between societies are our main concern, we must continue to grapple with the issue of the causes of economic growth because economic growth and level of development continue to be among the most important causes of inequality, poverty, unemployment, and the quality of life This paper’s dependent variable is the economic growth rate of 55 less developed countries (LDCs) during two time periods—1970–78 and 1965–84 The causal model consists of control variables—level of development and domestic investment in 1965—and a variety of independent variables drawn from major sociological theories of economic growth published during the last three decades Multiple regression analysis shows that, net of the effects of the two control variables, the variables that have the strongest effect on economic growth rates are: (1) direct foreign investment, which has a negative effect; (2) the proportion of the population in military service; and (3) the primary school enrollment ratio, both of which have positive effects of economic, growth On the other hand, variables drawn from some theories receive no empirical suport The mass media of communications, ethno-linguistic heterogeneity, democracy and human rights, income inequality, and state-centric theory’s key variable—state strength—all fail to show any significant impact on economic growth rates when the control variables and the significant independent variables are held constant The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the factors that influence the earnings of REALTORS and present estimates of a human capital earnings model estimated on the basis of a nationwide survey of agents collected by the National Association of Realtors.
Abstract: This paper explores the factors that influence the earnings of REALTORS. It presents estimates of a human capital earnings model estimated on the basis of a nationwide survey of REALTORS collected ...
TL;DR: The authors analyzed the demand for education in the framework of the human capital theory extended with employment prospects that depend on the amount of education and found substantial empirical support for the theory that high unemployment does not drive youth towards additional education, but youth strives for more education in order to improve their employment prospects.
TL;DR: In this paper, the impact of fertility on female labour force behavior was analyzed using a multi-state life-table analysis and the human capital model of wages to derive new estimates of the effect of children on hours of market work and earnings for American women aged 15 to 55.
Abstract: This paper combines multi-state life-table analysis and the human capital model of wages to derive new estimates of the impact of children on hours of market work and earnings for American women aged 15 to 55. Panel data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Labor Market Experience are used to estimate multi-state tables of working life and to assess the impact of fertility on female labour force behaviour. Potential earnings based on a human capital wage model are combined with the working life histories implied by the life-table analysis to estimate opportunity expenditures (i.e. the money value of foregone employment opportunities) associated with different childbearing patterns. The impacts of race, school enrolment, educational attainment, marital status, marital status changes, birth cohort and fertility are considered. Some specific findings are: (1) with identical childbearing patterns, white women forego roughly five times as much as black women in market earnings between the ages of 15 and 5...
Book•
01 Nov 1988
TL;DR: Reflections on development dependence, development and interdependence structural transformation - a program of research trade, development, and state development economics - what next? problems, development theory and strategies of Latin America development and trade in historical perspective dependence, interdependencies, and policies as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Reflections on development dependence, development and interdependence structural transformation - a program of research trade, development and the state development economics - what next? problems, development theory and strategies of Latin America development and trade in historical perspective dependence, interdependence, and policies - what have we learned? what has happened to development theory? development theory, strategies, and problems of Asia development theory, strategies, and problems of Latin America development theory, strategies, and problems of Africa development theory, strategies, and problems of socialist developing economics population, human capital and development mobilization of the rural economy trade, employment and industrial development financial liberalization in retrospect labour markets and the household economy development, welfare, and equity - where do we go from here? the politics of development policy the evolution of development policy trade.factor mobility, and adjustment in a changing world economy the role of science and technology in development.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors hypothesize that some conditions must obtain before educational expansion can have an affect on economic growth, and they compare the French findings to the U.S. findings and find them consistent.
Abstract: Human capital theory postulates that school expansion should foster economic growth, but credentialing theory questions such a relationship. We hypothesize that some conditions must obtain before educational expansion can have an affect on economic growth. First, the curriculum must be standardized and a large proportion of the age cohort beyond grade six must be enrolled for a sufficient period of time. Second, education and the economy must be linked. Third, the state must ensure that the quality of educational offerings is maintained. We use France to test these hypotheses because, starting in the late 19th century, the state played an important role in linking education and the economy. The state also followed a number of specific policies to ensure quality. The analysis from 1825-1975 supports our hypotheses. We compare the French findings to the U.S. findings and find them consistent.
TL;DR: In this paper, the female-male earnings differences are decomposed into their coefficients, attributes, and interaction components, revealing that the differences are adequately represented in the full-sample regression by the coefficient on gender.
Abstract: Earnings functions are estimated for a sample of 428 male and 256 female middle managers in one Canadian firm. For the full sample, human capital, behavioral, and organizational factors all have significant impacts on earnings differences, as does the gender coefficient, which accounts for a 10 percent differential against females. The female-male earnings differences are also decomposed into their coefficients, attributes, and interaction components, revealing that the differences are adequately represented in the full-sample regression by the coefficient on gender. A static model, in which returns are independent of attributes, appears to be an adequate representation of the relevant earnings function.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that fully experience-rated UI increases investment in human capital when future employment opportunities are not known with certainty, and that the optimal level of UI trades off full insurance and the impact, through human capital, of UI on the wage tax base.
Abstract: Previous studies of optimal unemployment insurance (UI) design ignore the impact of UI on human capital investment decisions. We show that fully experience-rated UI increases investment in human capital when future employment opportunities are not known with certainty. In the presence of wage taxation, the optimal level of UI trades off full insurance and the impact, through human capital, of UI on the wage tax base. This trade-off, in turn, depends on the extent to which human capital accumulation reallocates labor between market and untaxed nonmarket activities. Taxation of UI benefits increases the optimal level of UI provision.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors predict high share contract incidence in the high tech sector, a hypothesis supported by survey data collected from small and large high tech firms, and show that externalities associated with this sector's market entry mechanism imply that the optimal level of profit and equity sharing may not have been achieved.
Abstract: Profit and equity sharing benefit some firms through improvements in innovation, production quality, retention of key employees and specific human capital formation. The analysis predicts high share contract incidence in the high tech sector, a hypothesis supported by survey data collected from small and large high tech firms. However, externalities associated with this sector's market entry mechanism imply that the optimal level of profit and equity sharing may not have been achieved.
TL;DR: This article reported the results of a manufacturing firm location study that incorporated measures for both human capital stocks and flows into a statistical model of community attributes that were hypothesized to influence firm location decisions.
Abstract: National attention has been focused on the importance of education to rural economic development by several recent studies. Manufacturing location and employment growth studies, however, have presented conflicting evidence about the relationship between human capital and local economic development. While insight into this relationship holds important education policy implications for all levels of government, it is particularly critical for rural governments as rural communities attempt to stabilize and strengthen their economic bases. This paper reports the results of a manufacturing firm location study that incorporated measures for both human capital stocks and flows into a statistical model of community attributes that were hypothesized to influence firm location decisions. The results indicate the complexity of evaluating the impact of human capital investment on local or regional economic growth. Given the significance of the human factors to the location decisions of firms, it is surprising that so little attention has been given to these issues.
TL;DR: This article examined a number of education-related aspects of Venezuela's labor market in the 1975-84 period using a sample of 40,000 workers from the National Household Survey and found that the returns to schooling have declined by only 2 percentage points in a decade of rapid educational expansion.
TL;DR: Empirical evidence on three assertions commonly made by population policy advocates about the relationships among population growth, human capital formation, and economic development is discussed and evaluated in the light of economic-biological models of household behavior and of its relevance to population policy.
TL;DR: A substantial amount of data, both statistical and anecdotal, have been collected that indicate that much of black poverty in the United States is experienced by black women living in households with their dependent children as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: A substantial amount of data, both statistical and anecdotal, have been collected that indicate that much of black poverty in the United States is experienced by black women living in households with their dependent children.' Most analyses of the underlying causes have been filled with normative assumptions about what is proper and improper familial behavior, and, consequently, social scientists often have labeled the family formation practices of the black population "inappropriate."2 Such empirical findings and analyses lack critical perspectives on the political and economic structures that provide the milieu for family formation strategies and emphasize the human capital disabilities of the black population generally, and of black women specifically.3