Quality of life differences across areas can be measured by differences in "real wages" where real wages are computed as nominal wages adjusted for the cost of living. Computing cost of living differences involves several important issues, including how housing prices should be measured....

Formal education is widely thought to be a major determinant of individual earnings. This paper uses the American Community Survey to examine the effect of formal schooling on worker wages. Given the potential endogeneity of education decisions, I instrument for individual schooling using...

The stock of human capital in an area is important for regional economic growth and development. However, highly educated workers are often quite mobile and there is a concern that public investments in college graduates may not benefit the state if the college graduates leave the state after...

This paper examines whether effects of labor demand shocks on housing prices vary across time and space. Using data on 321 US metropolitan statistical areas, we estimate the medium- and long-run effects of increases in metropolitan statistical area-level employment and total labor income on...

Quality of life differences across areas can be measured by differences in “real wages”, where real wages are computed as nominal wages adjusted for the cost of living. Computing cost of living differences involves several important issues, including how housing prices should be measured....

Public schooling in the U.S. has numerous critics, many of whom suggest that alternatives such as providing vouchers for private schools may be more effective. This paper combines decennial census and American Community Survey data for various years to examine the relationship between...

This paper examines whether effects of labor demand shocks on housing prices vary across time and space. Using data on 321 US metropolitan statistical areas, we estimate the medium- and long-run effects of increases in metropolitan statistical area-level employment and total labor income on...