This paper reports evidence on the error properties of survey reports of labor market variables such as earnings and work hours. Our primary data source is the PSID Validation Study, a two-wave panel survey of a sample of workers employed by a large firm which also allowed us access to its very...

Economists have devoted increasing attention to the magnitude and consequences of measurement error in their data. Most discussions of measurement error are based on the “classical” assumption that errors in measuring a particular variable are uncorrelated with the true value of that...

While there has been a great deal of research on the characteristics of those who enter the U.S. Armed Forces, there has been little work which asks whether those who re-enlist are those who were above- or below-average performers. Despite the relatively "egalitarian" (little pay for...

The traditional research on method of pay and wages compares those paid piece rates with those paid by the hour, and finds (as predicted by the theory) that those paid piece rates earn more. In this paper, those paid by the hour are divided into those paid standard rates (wage does not vary with...

Three types of pay-setting methods are piece rates (pay mechanically linked to output), merit pay (pay based on less formal judgments by one's supervisor), and standard rates (pay based on one's job classification and perhaps seniority, but not directly on performance). Firms' choice among...

"Standard rate" wage policies, under which all workers in a particular job receive the same wage, are common for blue-collar workers, especially those covered by collective bargaining agreements and those who work for large employers.This paper analyzes the impact of standard-rate wage...

This paper analyzes the determinants of the supply of enlistees to the U.S. Army, using quarterly data from 1975:4 through 1982:3 for the 50 states and the District of Columbia. For high-quality enlistees, defined as those with test scores in the top half of the population or top scoring...