One reason to be concerned about income inequality is the idea that people not only care about their own absolute income, but also their income relative to various reference groups (e.g. co-workers, friends, neighbors, relatives, etc.). We use Canadian linked employer-employee data to estimate...

Abstract This paper describes and implements a simple partial solution to the most common problem in applied microeconometrics: estimating a linear causal effect with a potentially endogenous explanatory variable and no suitable instrumental variables. Empirical researchers faced with this...

We use administrative data on students in grades 4 and 7 in British Columbia to examine the extent to which differences in school environment contribute to the achievement gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students as measured by standardized test scores. We find that segregation of...

This paper finds that the predicted unemployment rate in a community increases dramatically when the fraction of neighborhood residents with college degrees drops below twenty percent. This threshold behavior provides empirical support for ``epidemic'' theories of inner-city unemployment. Using...