A new two-parameter descriptive model for the size distribution of incomes is presented. The Beaman distribution, originally found to describe the relationship between prices and sales volumes of textiles and related products, is shown to fit closely US Census data on individual incomes over the...

Using the ENIGH covering 1984-2002, we analyze wages and employment in Mexico after trade liberalization and domestic reforms. We find that wage inequality and returns to post-secondary schooling increased rapidly during 1984-1994 but stabilized since that period. The end of inequality growth...

We estimate the probability of voluntary job change using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and imputed values for several different measures of financial stress from the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF). Our main finding is that single men are more likely to respond to credit...

This article reviews the literature on two-sided atomless assignment models of workers to tasks. Using simple parametric examples, the fundamental differences between the comparative-advantage and the scale-of-operations models are illustrated. Holding the distributions of abilities and tasks...

In this article, I report results of an exploratory data analysis that challenge the conventional wisdom on the relation between computer use and gender wage. Using the micro-economic data of 1984, 1993, and 2001, I find 1) the wage premium for females using computers at work is about 19-26 per...

Using longitudinal data from the GSOEP-PSID Equivalent File 1980-2002 we analyze the extent and structure of intergenerational occupational mobility and the determinants of occupational choice in Germany and the United States � two countries with different social role patterns. We find...

Measurement error can impact estimator precision, obscure estimated relationships between variables, and distort the estimated intertemporal behavior of important economic characteristics. A commonly known model for measurement error assumes that measured income is the product of true income and...

We review the empirical literature about the implications of the computerization of the labor market to see whether it can explain observed computer adoption patterns and (long-term) changes in the wage structure. Evidence from empirical micro-economic studies turns out to be inconsistent with...

We consider the links between Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) and the distribution of income, as mediated by problems of coordination and control within organizations. In the large corporations of the mid-twentieth century, a highly developed division of labor was coordinated...