Dan A. Black

Demographics of the Gay and Lesbian Population in the United States: Evidence from Available Systematic Data Sources

This work provides an overview of standard social science data sources that now allow some systematic study of the gay and lesbian population in the United States. For each data source, we consider how sexual orientation can be defined, and we note the potential sample sizes. We give special attention to the important problem of measurement error, especially the extent to which individuals recorded as gay and lesbian are indeed recorded correctly. Our concern is that because gays and lesbians constitute a relatively small fraction of the population, modest measurement problems could lead to serious errors in inference. In examining gays and lesbians in multiple data sets we also achieve a second objective: We provide a set of statistics about this population that is relevant to several current policy debates.

Employer Size: The Implications for Search, Training, Capital Investment, Starting Wages, and Wage Growth

An employer must choose a procedure for screening job applicants, a rate of hire, a training program for new employees, a criterion for the retention of new employees after observing their on-the-job performance, a compensation package, and a rate of capital investment so as to minimize production costs across time. This paper examines the effects of employer size on these hiring and training decisions when larger employers have greater monitoring costs. A unique data set is employed to estimate the empirical relation among employer size and employer search, training, capital investment, and wages.

Discrimination in an Equilibrium Search Model

I construct an equilibrium search model where some employers have a distaste for hiring minority workers and show that this bias results in economic discrimination against minority workers. Although only unprejudiced firms hire minority workers, minority workers receive lower wages than workers not facing discrimination whenever any employers in the market have a distaste for minority workers. One implication of the model is that gender or racial wage differentials understate the utility loss from discrimination. In addition, the wages of minority workers increase when their proportion increases in the labor market.

Estimating the Returns to College Quality with Multiple Proxies for Quality

Existing studies of the effects of college quality on wages typically rely on a single proxy variable for college quality. This study questions the wisdom of using a single proxy given that it likely contains substantial measurement error. We consider four econometric approaches to the problem that involve the use of multiple proxies for college quality: factor analysis, instruments variables, a method recently proposed by Lubotsky and Wittenberg, and a GMM estimator. Our estimates suggest that the existing literature understates the wage effects of college quality and illustrate the value of using multiple proxies in this and other similar contexts.

The impact of economic conditions on participation in disability programs: Evidence from the coal boom and bust

We examine the impact of the coal boom of the 1970s and the coal bust of the 1980s on disability program participation. These shocks provide clear evidence that as the value of labor-market participation increases, disability program participation falls. For the Disability Insurance program, the elasticity of payments with respect to local earnings is between -0.3 and -0.4 and for Supplemental Security Income the elasticity is between -0.4 and -0.7. Consistent with a model where qualifying for disability programs is costly, the relationship between economic conditions and program participation is much stronger for permanent than for transitory economic shocks.

Do Workers Pay for On-The-Job Training?

We examine the relationships among on-the-job training, starting wages, wage growth, and productivity growth. Our models suggest that training lowers starting wages, but the estimated magnitudes are small. When firms are asked directly, we find that they pay higher starting wages to workers requiring less training than is typical, but do not pay lower starting wages to workers who require more training than is typical. In contrast to the results for wage growth, we find a large, robust impact of training on productivity growth, suggesting that firms pay most of the cost and reap most of the returns to training.

The Earnings Effects of Sexual Orientation

This investigation of the effect of sexual orientation on earnings employs General Social Survey data from 1989–96. Depending largely on the definition of sexual orientation used, earnings are estimated as having been between 14% and 16% lower for gay men than for heterosexual men, and between 20% and 34% higher for lesbian women than for heterosexual women. This evidence, the authors suggest, is consistent with either of two complementary constructions: Gary Beckers argument that male/female earnings differentials are rooted in specialization within households and in optimal human capital accumulation decisions individuals make when they are young; and Claudia Goldins observations about marriage-based gender discrimination, according to which the paternalistic “protection” of wives and mothers from the world of work has tended to overlook lesbians.

Do Right‐To‐Carry Laws Deter Violent Crime?

John R. Lott and David B. Mustard conclude that right‐to‐carry laws deter violent crime. Our reanalysis of Lott and Mustards data provides no basis for drawing confident conclusions about the impact of right‐to‐carry laws on violent crime. We document that their results are highly sensitive to small changes in their model and sample. Without Florida in the sample, there is no detectable impact of right‐to‐carry laws on the rate of murder and rape, the two crimes that by the calculations of Lott and Mustard account for 80 percent of the social benefit of right‐to‐carry laws. A more general model based on year‐to‐year differences yields no evidence of significant impact for any type of violent crime. As a result, inference based on the Lott and Mustard model is inappropriate, and their results cannot be used responsibly to formulate public policy.

Gender Differences in Training, Capital, and Wages

This paper constructs an equilibrium job-matching model where workers differ in their attachment to the labor force. The model predicts that workers with weaker attachment to the labor market will receive lower starting wages and lower post-training wages, and will be placed in jobs that offer less training and use less capital. The implications of the model for gender differences in pay and job assignment are tested with the EOPP data set. Our findings suggest that while training intensity during the first three months of employment is similar in positions filled by males and females, females are employed in positions that have a shorter duration of on-the-job training and that use less capital. These differences in on-the-job training and capital in positions filled by men and women, as well as a lower market value for womens prior labor market experience, account for a substantial part of the gap in wages between males and females.

Child Care Subsidies, Quality of Care, and the Labor Supply of Low-Income, Single Mothers

The authors examine the effects of child care subsidies on the labor supply decisions of low-income mothers and o n the quality of care their children receive using newly gathered data on two programs that subsidize the child care expenditures of families in Kentucky. They find that single mothers who receive child care subsidies are more likely to be employed and are generally more satisfied with the care their children receive but subsidies have little effect on hours worked. Copyright 1992 by MIT Press.