We examine gender wage disparities for four groups of college-educated women—black, Hispanic, Asian, and non-Hispanic white—using the National Survey of College Graduates. Raw log wage gaps, relative to non-Hispanic white male counterparts, generally exceed –0.30. Estimated gaps decline to...

This paper explores why many low-income households do not participate in the Food Stamp Program. By analyzing detailed income and asset data from a sample of low-income households, we find that many households that appear to be eligible for food stamps in fact are not eligible. By conducting an...

We exploit a “natural experiment” associated with human reproduction to identify the causal effect of teen childbearing on the socioeconomic attainment of teen mothers. We exploit the fact that some women who become pregnant experience a miscarriage and do not have a live birth. Using...

Not conditioning on previous employment, we find large differences in the apparent effects of children on married women's labor supply among American-born white women and three ethnically distinct groups of newly arrived immigrants to the United States. When we account for labor supply in the...

We employ the model used by Fraker, Moffitt, and Wolf (1985) to estimate effective tax rates and guarantees in the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program for the years 1967-82 to produce comparable estimates for 1983-91. We compare this method of benefit prediction with other...

This paper constructs an equilibrium job-matching model where workers differ in their attachment to the labor force. The model predicts that workers with weaker attachment to the labor market will receive lower starting wages and lower post-training wages, and will be placed in jobs that offer...

We examine the relationships among on-the-job training, starting wages, wage growth, and productivity growth. Our models suggest that training lowers starting wages, but the estimated magnitudes are small. When firms are asked directly, we find that they pay higher starting wages to workers...