When estimating population descriptive statistics, weighting is called for if needed to make the analysis sample representative of the target population. With regard to research directed instead at estimating causal effects, we discuss three distinct weighting motives: (1) to achieve precise...

Despite numerous empirical studies, there is surprisingly little agreement about whether the Social Security earnings test affects male labor supply. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive analysis of the labor supply effects of the earnings test using longitudinal administrative earnings...

We examine the effect of the School Breakfast Program (SBP) availability with the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey III. Our work builds on previous research by developing a transparent difference-in-differences strategy to account for unobserved differences between students...

This paper reconsiders the methods used in previous studies to assess the welfare caseload movements during the 1990s. We develop a model in which the welfare caseload is the net outcome of past flows onto and off of the caseload and show that such a stock-flow model can explain some of the...

Time limits represent a substantial departure from previous welfare policy. Theory suggests that their effects should vary according to the age of the youngest child of the family. I test this prediction using data from the Current Population Survey and find that time limits indeed have larger...

Speech patterns differ substantially between whites and many African Americans. I collect and analyze speech data to understand the role that speech may play in explaining racial wage differences. Among blacks, speech patterns are highly correlated with measures of skill such as schooling and...

Violence in and around schools has drawn increasing attention lately from both the public and policymakers. Despite the importance of the problem, however, research on this topic has been limited. In this paper I analyze how local violence affects high school graduation and college attendance....