Kevin Duncan

Examining the achievement test score gap between urban and suburban students.

Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experience for Youth (1997 cohort) are used to examine the urban school achievement gap. Specifically, we use the Blinder–Oaxaca technique to decompose differences in Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery scores for students who attended urban and suburban schools. We find that approximately 75% of the gap in this achievement measure is explained by the high concentration of disadvantaged students in urban schools. Broken down further, 36% of the gap can be attributed to differences in family background. The lower income of urban families alone explains 25% of the gap. Differences in measures of school quality, such as small classes, large schools, and private school attendance, explain very little of the gap. While current policy focuses on schools and school reform, our results are a reminder that meaningful efforts to improve performance in urban schools must address socioeconomic conditions in urban areas.

Marital status, children and women's labor market choices

Abstract This article provides a test of the human capital prediction that women with more labor force intermittence hold occupations characterized by lower earnings penalties for intermittence. By using marital and family status as proxies of labor market commitment we find that, on average, married women with and without children spend more time out of the labor force than never-married, childless women. Results from earnings regressions fail to indicate that the occupations they hold are characterized by significantly lower penalties for time not working. However, results from a probit model indicate that a womans marital status, the presence of children, and the level of the husbands education significantly affect the probability of working. The results reported here suggest that human capital theory explains a womans decision to work, but does not necessarily explain her occupational choice.

Gender differences in faculty pay and faculty salary compression

Abstract A recording distinction between cost-of-living and merit adjustments at a unionized, public liberal arts college allows us to examine several issues related to gender differences in faculty pay. For example, we find that annual fixed-dollar merit increases and similar starting salaries contribute to comparable salary growth rates for female and male faculty. In this setting, the male faculty earnings advantage is traced to higher rank and years of service. These results underscore the importance of gender-neutral salary-setting practices and equal access to promotion and retention for female faculty. The salary distinctions also allow us to determine the source of the seniority penalty. The economics literature is divided on whether the often-observed lower pay of senior faculty is deserved. We find that merit pay rises with additional years of seniority and that the seniority penalty is rooted in cost-of-living adjustments that fail to keep pace with market trends. These findings illustrate how the seniority penalty can be linked to budget considerations rather than the lower productivity of senior staff.

Prevailing wage legislation and public school construction efficiency: A stochastic frontier approach

Stochastic frontier regression is used to examine the effect of introducing prevailing wage legislation on public school construction efficiency in British Columbia. Prior to the legislation, public school projects were from 16% to 19% smaller, in terms of square feet, than comparable private structures. However, likelihood ratio tests consistently indicate that the coefficients measuring the effect of the policy on the size differential between covered and uncovered projects are not statistically different from zero. These results suggest that construction wage requirements did not alter input utilisation in a way that significantly affected construction output. Average inefficiency for school construction in British Columbia over the period of the study is 12.1%.

The effects of prevailing wage regulations on construction efficiency in British Columbia

This study examines the effect of prevailing wage legislation on the efficiency of school construction. Specifically, stochastic frontier regression and British Columbian construction data are used to measure the effect of the introduction and expansion of prevailing wage requirements on technical efficiency, or the ability of builders to obtain maximum output from available resources. Results indicate that average technical efficiency for all construction projects in the sample is 94.6%. Average efficiency for projects covered by the introductory stage of British Columbias construction wage legislation is 86.6%. By the time of the expansion of the wage policy 17 months later, the average efficiency of covered projects increased to 99.8%. These findings suggest that the introduction of prevailing wage laws disrupted construction efficiency. However, in a relatively short period, the construction industry adjusted to wage requirements by increasing overall efficiency. A short-term decrease in construction efficiency, followed by a sharp and durable increase, supports that view that prevailing wage laws are not associated with higher, long-term construction costs.

The Effect of Federal Davis-Bacon and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Regulations on Highway Maintenance Costs:

The author compares winning bids on state and federal highway maintenance projects in Colorado between 2000 and 2011 to determine whether federal prevailing wage and disadvantaged business enterprise regulations are associated with increased construction costs. The effect of the Davis-Bacon Act is evaluated when average wage rates prevail for almost all workers involved in highway maintenance for most of the period of the study. The federal minimum for work completed by disadvantaged businesses is 10%. The goal for Colorado exceeds this minimum by two to three percentage points. Summary data indicate that federal projects are more expensive than state projects, but projects funded by the federal government are also larger and more complex. Regression results indicate that, with controls for project size and complexity, no statistically significant difference is found in the cost of federal and state projects. Results also indicate that federal regulations are not associated with reduced bid competition, an important determinant of project cost.

Using stochastic frontier regression to estimate the construction cost inefficiency of prevailing wage laws

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to use stochastic frontier regression to measure the effect of the introduction and expansion of prevailing wage requirements on the cost efficiency of public school construction in British Columbia. The results provide evidence from a specific sector and location that contributes to the accumulated evidence on the topic.Design/methodology/approach – Stochastic frontier regression is used to measure the effect of the introduction and expansion of prevailing wage requirements on the cost efficiency of public school construction in British Columbia. The results of a likelihood ratio test indicate that stochastic frontier regression is preferred to OLS cost estimation because of the presence of statistically different cost inefficiencies across a sample of covered and uncovered projects.Findings – Specifically, projects covered by the introductory stage of the wage requirements are significantly less cost efficient compared to other public school projects. However, by the t...

Prevailing Wage Regulations and School Construction Costs: Cumulative Evidence from British Columbia

The effect of prevailing wage laws on the cost of public construction has been the subject of an ongoing public policy debate. We measure this effect by comparing the public/private construction cost differential for schools built before and after British Columbias Skills Development and Fair Wage Policy. Regression results indicate that public schools were 40.5 percent more expensive to build prior to the policy. This differential was 40.1 percent after the policys enforcement. However, this change is not statistically significant. Regression results also indicate a stable construction cost function over the policy period. These results indicate that the effect of fair wage requirements was not different from zero in terms of magnitude or statistical significance. Combining these results with the findings of our previous research provides a comprehensive view regarding the effect of the British Columbian prevailing wage policy on school construction. This body of research, utilizing a variety of statistical methods, provides consistent evidence indicating that a relatively strong prevailing wage policy was not associated with changes in the efficiency or productivity of construction that contributes to increased building costs.

The vintage schooling hypothesis and racial differences in earnings and on-the-job training: A longitudinal analysis

Why do younger black males earn more relative to whites than do older black males? The literature offers two competing explanations. Smith and Welch suggest this pattern is evidence that employers are rewarding the improved skills of more recently, better-educated blacks. Lazear, and Duncan and Hoffman suggest that the pattern is the result of employer discrimination that prevents blacks from entering occupations that offer on-the-job training (OJT) and wage growth with experience. The competing views are tested by using the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experience of Young Men to compare black and white earnings and regression estimates in two periods. Regression results for 1968 and 1978 indicate that, as the NLS cohort aged, only white males had an age-earnings profile exhibiting the positive effect of OJT. Over the period, education coefficients decreased for both groups with the reduction greatest in black coefficients. This suggests that the earnings effect of education is not as stable for blacks as it is for whites over the life cycle. Black-white earnings ratios were approximately the same in both periods. The results reported here support the explanations offered by Lazear and by Duncan and Hoffman, implying that policies focusing on eliminating racial differences in educational quality may be insufficient in improving the relative position of blacks over the life cycle.

Starting wages of women in female and male occupations: A test of the human capital explanation of occupational sex segregation

Abstract Using mature women from the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experience we test the human capital propositions that predominantly female occupations are characterized by relatively higher starting wages and lower penalties for time spent out of the labor market. An examination of average hourly wage rates by level of work experience failed to indicate the kind of statistically significant starting wage differentials that would support an explanation of occupational sex segregation based on choice. Regression results indicate that predominantly female occupations offer significantly lower starting wages and higher penalty rates relative to predominantly male occupations. We fail to observe the kind of economic incentives suggested by human capital theory that would lead women to choose to work in traditionally female occupations. The findings of this study suggest that future research should address the roles of labor market discrimination and sex role socialization in explaining occupational sex segragation.