Glen G. Cain

Statistical Theories of Discrimination in Labor Markets

Examines economic discrimination in labor markets using a stochastic model. Analysis of several types of economic discrimination within the context of competitive market assumptions; Empirical plausibility and implications of the alternative models of economic discrimination; Role of statistical theories in the explanation of labor market discrimination. (Abstract copyright EBSCO.)

Chapter 13 The economic analysis of labor market discrimination: A survey

Publisher Summary The chapter presents a survey on the economics of labor market discrimination, motivated by two fundamental problems associated with income and wage differences among groups classified by sex, race, ethnicity, and other characteristics. The first is the inequity of long-lasting differences in economic well-being among the groups; in particular, differences in household or family income. The second is the inequity of long-lasting differences in the average wage rates among groups of workers classified by these demographic traits, when the groups may be presumed to be either equally productive or to have equal productive capacity. The second problem also raises the question of whether a labor market that pays unequal wages to equally productive workers is inefficient. Economic discrimination is defined in terms of income differences among families and wage differences among workers. The chapter discusses these definitions and presents data from the United States on the income and earnings differences of blacks, Hispanics, whites, women, and men. The chapter surveys theories of economic discrimination in the labor market. The theories are classified into competitive and monopolistic neoclassical models with (essentially) complete information, competitive neoclassical models with imperfect information-leading to “statistical discrimination,” and institutional theories. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the policy implications of the economic research on discrimination.

ECONOMIC DETERMINANTS OF FERTILITY: RESULTS FROM CROSS-SECTIONAL AGGREGATE DATA

Census data for areal units, SMSA’s in 1960 and cities in 1940, are used to test hypotheses and estimate parameters concerning the influence of a variety of socioeconomic variables on fertility rates of ever married white and nonwhite women aged 25–29, 30–34, 35–44, and 45–49. An economic model of the demand for children is adopted as the theoretical framework. The principal findings are that the market earnings opportunities for wives have an important negative effect on the fertility rate and that male income, representing the income of husbands, has a small but positive effect on fertility. The implication of these results is that changes in economic variables, for example, improvements in the employment opportunities and wages for wives or the establishment of a children’s allowance program, may be expected to affect fertility.

The Black-White Difference in Youth Employment: Evidence for Demand-Side Factors

The 1980 census reveals a serious lag in the employment performance of young black men relative to young white men. With census data we test for demand-side causes of this lag, using both aggregate data for 94 standard metropolitan statistical areas (SMSAs) and disaggregate (or individual) data from the 1-in-100 Public Use Sample. Variation across SMSAs in the employment and wages of white youth provides indicators of the demand conditions for black youth, and we estimate that feasible increases in these demand factors would lead to about a 25% increase in the employment of black youth.

New developments in the labor market : toward a new institutional paradigm

The structure of employer/employee relationships is changing. These original contributions report on new developments taking place in todays labor market and on the role of public policy in shaping that process. They provide an illuminating description of the current state of internal labor market theory and practice, document the evolution of trends in the public and private sectors, and are joined in a concern for disadvantaged and unemployed workers that is all too rare in scholarly work. A central theme is the adaptation of labor market institutions to the important environmental changes of recent years, including the shift to an international marketplace for goods and services, the spread of new workplace technologies, new work force demographics, and changing conceptions of the role that government should be expected to play.Katharine Abraham is Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland. Robert McKersie is Professor of Industrial Relations at the Sloan School of Management at MIT.Contents: Introduction, Katharine G. Abraham. Norms and Cycles: The Dynamics of Nonunion Industrial Relations in the United States, 1897-1987, Sanford M. Jacoby. The Effects of Worker Participation in Management, Profits and Ownership of Assets on Enterprise Performance, Michael A. Conte, Jan Svenjar. Restructuring the Employment Relationship: The Growth of MarketMediated Work Arrangements, Katharine G. Abraham. The Evolving Role of Small Business and Some Implications for Employment and Training Policy, Gary W. Loveman, Michael J. Piore, Werner Sengeneberger. Employment Security and Employment Policy: An Assessment of the Issues, Paul Osterman, Thomas A. Kochan. The Equity and Efficiency of job Security: Contrasting Perspectives on Collective Dismissal Laws in Europe, Susan N. Houseman. ContinuousProcess Technologies and the Gender Gap in Manufacturing Wages, Susan B. Carter, Peter Philips. Reducing Gender and Racial Inequality: The Role of Public Policy, Peter Gottschalk. Government and the Labor Market, Robert M. Solow.

Response to Hannan and Tuma

In response to Hannan and Tuma we see no need to retract or change anything in our article (hereafter cited as CW). We discuss each of their sections in order.

Welfare Economics of Policies toward Women

The rationale for government policies aimed at promoting market work by women is examined according to the criteria of efficiency and equity. Efficiency involves the issues of market failure and labor market discrimination. Equity involves the economic well-being of women compared to that of men. The case for interventionist policies on behalf of women is found to be weak on efficiency grounds but strong on equity grounds. It is suggested that conventional measures of labor market discrimination against women are hopelessly ambiguous, and an alternative measure of economic discrimination is proposed. Lifetime measures of income for men and women are constructed to measure this concept of discrimination, and it is shown that women are poorer than men throughout most of their adult lives.

Unemployment and the labor-force participation of secondary workers

Examines the time patterns of adjustments in labor supply to changes in unemployment. Effect of unemployment on labor-force participation; Factors that influence labor supply; Relationship between unemployment and labor force participation; Impact of tight labor markets. (Abstract copyright EBSCO.)

Segmented Labour Markets

Segmented labour markets may refer to descriptive features of labour markets or to theoretical models of the processes and outcomes of labour market behaviour. This entry emphasizes the latter, but the two aspects of the term are not neatly separable. In its descriptive uses segmentation may refer to industries, geographic areas, or to such demographic characteristics of workers as gender or race.

Comment on "A process evaluation of the contract compliance program in nonconstruction industry," by Gregory J. Ahart (29:4, July 1976, p. 565)

Comments on an article about a program for equal employment opportunity implemented by the United States Office of Federal Contract Compliance. Problems associated with the program; Prevalence of race discrimination in employment; Outcome measure for the compliance program. (Abstract copyright EBSCO.)