The canonical supply{demand model of the wage returns to skill has been extremely in uential; however, it has faced several important challenges. Several studies show that the standard approach sometimes produces theoretically wrong-signed elasticities of substitution, yields counterintuitive...

In this paper we study the effects of abusive behavior on the labor force and marital status decisions of women. Using a unique Canadian data set on domestic violence, we estimate the effects of abuse on the marital history as well as current employment using a sequential, multi-state model. In...

Conventional wisdom suggests abused women get caught in a cycle of violence and are unable or unwilling to leave their spouses. We estimate a model of domestic violence to determine who abuses, who is abused, and how women respond to abuse via employment and divorce. In contrast to conventional...

In this paper we analyze an equilibrium search model with threesources for wage andunemployment differentials among workers with the same (observed)human capital but different appearance (race): unobservedproductivity (skill), search intensities and discrimination (Becker 1957)due to an...

Separate identification of the price and quantity of human capital has important implications for understanding key issues in economics. Price and quantity series are derived for four education levels. The price series are highly correlated and they exhibit a strong secular trend. Three...

We compare earnings inequality and mobility across the U.S., Canada, France, Germany and the U.K. during the late 1990s. A flexible model of earnings dynamics that isolates positional mobility within a stable earnings distribution is estimated. Earnings trajectories are then simulated, and...

The basic canonical model fails to predict the aggregate college premium outside of the original sample period (1963-1987) or to account for the observed deviations in college premia for younger vs. older workers. This paper documents that these failings are due to mis-measurement of the...

The labor market attachment of females has increased dramatically over the last half century, converging to a pattern similar to that of males. Human capital theory predicts an associated increase in human capital investment by females and a convergence in the life-cycle human capital investment...

In the last three decades, Canada and the US showed different paths in per capita GDP growth, skill premiums and inequality. Both firm and worker productivity differences play a role and have different policy implications, but are difficult to distinguish. To examine separate firm and worker...

The evolution of human capital over the life-cycle, especially during the accumulation phase, has been extensively studied within an optimal human capital investment framework. Given the ageing of the workforce, there is increasing interest in the human capital of older workers. The most recent...