This paper applies meta-analytic techniques to evaluations of voluntary training programs to investigate whether impacts of government-funded training programs on earnings grow or deteriorate over time. For adult men and youth, we find some evidence that, after initially increasing, earnings...

This paper specifies and estimates a structural model in which the decision to purchase market child care-and the quality purchased-is made simultaneously with the employment decision of the mother. Separate analyses are performed for married mothers and single mothers. The structural estimates...

The college wage premium for new labor market entrants rose sharply during the 1980s. We ask how much of this change arose from changes in the skill level of the typical college graduate. We find that skills attained prior to college, as measured by standardized test scores and high school...

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....