We show that the distinction between Self and Other, ‘us’ and ‘them,’ or in-group and out-group, affects significantly economic and social behavior. In a series of experiments with approximately 200 Midwestern students as our subjects, we found that they favor those who are similar to...

We investigate the existence and relative strength of favoritism for in-group versus out-group along multiple identity categories (body type, political views, nationality, religion, and more) in four alternative contexts: (1) giving money in a dictator game, (2) sharing an office, (3) commuting,...

The asumption that behavior is independent of the identity of those who participate in an economic interaction is fundamental to economists’ understanding of how markets operate, how firms work internally, how nations trade with each other, and much else. In this paper, we show that the...

Steady increases in the cost of medical care, coupled with a rise in the fraction of workers who lack medical insurance, create incentives for workers who are injured off-the-job to file Workers' Compensation claims. Many analysts have interpreted the high rate of Monday injuries-especially...

We present a multiple spells-competing risks model of stopout, dropout, reenrollment, and graduation behavior. We find that students who experience an initial stopout are more likely to experience subsequent stopouts (occurrence dependence) and be less likely to graduate. We also find evidence...

This study used workers' compensation data from Oregon from 1990-1997 to examine injuries due to vehicular accidents by truck drivers, and calculate rate estimates using baseline data derived from the U.S. Bureau of Census' Current Population Survey. During this period, 1,168 valid injury claims...

Occupational research has demonstrated construction to be among the most dangerous of all occupational industries. This study examines 20,680 accepted workers' compensation claims filed by Oregon construction workers over the period of 1990-1997. Injury rate estimates for occupations were...

Using National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data for 1979–91, the authors analyze the effect of union representation on the likelihood that individuals eligible for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits actually received those benefits. They find that unions had no statistically...

Using Current Population Survey data supplemented with data from other sources, the authors analyze changes in the wage distribution in the U.S. grocery stores industry between 1984 and 1994. They find that in this industry, unlike in many others, wage inequality did not increase. Instead, real...