Laura Leete

Wage equity and employee motivation in nonprofit and for-profit organizations

In this paper, I argue that because nonprofit organizations rely disproportionately on intrinsically motivated employees, they provide a particularly interesting context for examining the relationship between wage dispersion and employee motivation. If certain hypotheses put forth in the literature on psychology and employee motivation are correct, then wage dispersion should be less apparent in the nonprofit sector than in the for-profit sector. I examine labor market data from the 1990 US Census on nonprofit and for-profit employees and find a strong link between wage equity and sector of employment. This finding is supportive of the view that wage equity is related to worker motivation. Alternative explanations for the observed wage patterns are examined and rejected.

Whither the Nonprofit Wage Differential? Estimates from the 1990 Census

This article provides new estimates of the nonprofit/for‐profit wage differential in the U.S. economy. Using observations on 4.1 million private‐sector employees from the 1990 census, I find either zero or slightly positive economy‐wide wage differences between nonprofit and for‐profit employees in a standard earnings equation format. Significant wage differentials are found at the disaggregated occupation and industry level and provide a basis for testing hypotheses explaining nonprofit/for‐profit wage differences.

Comparative Approaches to Measuring Food Access in Urban Areas: The Case of Portland, Oregon

GIS methods are used to construct measures of food access for neighbourhoods in the Portland, Oregon, US metropolitan area and the sensitivity of such measures to methodological variation is examined. The level of aggregation of data inputs is varied and the effect of using both Euclidean and street network distances is tested. It is found that, regardless of the level of geographical disaggregation, distance-based measures generate approximately the same conclusions about the distribution of food access in the area. It is also found that, while the relationship between street network and Euclidean distances varies with population density, measures computed with either construct generate the same relative patterns of food access. These findings suggest that results from food access studies employing disparate methodologies can often be compared.

Congruence and Coverage: Alternative Approaches to Identifying Urban Food Deserts and Food Hinterlands

Recent literature identifies disadvantaged neighborhoods lacking access to healthy food as “food deserts” where limited food choices may affect health and socioeconomic outcomes. Researchers have applied varying definitions of food deserts, however, making generalizations problematic. We use GIS methods to examine the congruence and coverage of different definitions for Portland, Oregon. Each identifies somewhat different neighborhoods as food deserts, with none accounting for the majority of socioeconomically vulnerable populations living with low food access. To supplement, we introduce the concept of the food hinterland—home to a significant share of the vulnerable population living with low food access.

Job Access, Employment and Earnings: Outcomes for Welfare Leavers in a US Urban Labour Market

This article examines the effect of job access on employment outcomes for welfare recipients in Cleveland, Ohio, leaving assistance during 1998—2000. A rich longitudinal dataset is employed, combining administrative and survey data with multiple measures of access to and competition for jobs. The focus is on both a population and a range of measures of employment outcomes not previously studied in this context. Empirical ambiguity in the existing literature has resulted from the difficulty of modelling causality when employment and residential location are jointly determined. In this study, labour market outcomes are related to the residential locations of welfare leavers prior to employment, thus overcoming much potential endogeneity. Virtually no evidence is found that job access influences labour market outcomes for this population.

Helping Legislators Legislate: An Executive Education Program for State Senators

Abstract This paper reports on lessons learned from designing and delivering a two-day executive education program to help state senators be better senators. We provide 10 lessons on the process of creating and delivering the program and five lessons about its content. We base these lessons on observations we made during the program and evaluations submitted by the participants. We frame the lessons in ways that apply to a range of legislative institutions.