This paper empirically estimates the return to education using twins data that the authors collected from urban China. Our ordinary least-squares estimate shows that one year of schooling increases an individual's earnings by 8.4%. If we use a within-twin fixed effects model, the return is...

This article investigates why many eligible for welfare do not participate. We show that on-the-job wage-rising potential is the key factor motivating nonparticipation. Although individuals with very low earnings and little wage-rising potential are typically welfare recipients, those with good...

Spousal education is correlated with earnings for two reasons: cross-productivity between couples and assortative mating. This article empirically disentangles the two effects by using Chinese twins data. We have two innovations: using twins data to control for the unobserved mating effect in...

This paper analyzes changes in the gender earnings gap in urban China over the period 1988–2004 using urban household survey data. The mean female/male earnings ratio declined from 86.3% to 76.2%. Mainly responsible for this diverging trend were rapid increases in returns to both observed...

Our paper studies the determinants of happiness in China and U.S. and provides a better understanding of the issue of inequalities in happiness beyond income inequality. Based on the two waves of nation-wide survey data on happiness collected by World Values Survey in 1995 and 2007, Probit and...

It is often believed that spouses’ wages are positively related even when other traits such as age and education are controlled. This is mainly based on the observation of two-earner couples. This paper uses the standard sample selection technique to correct for the sample censoring and to...