Commentary on session IV: The historical relationship between migration, trade, and development

Commentary on the three papers in this session: "Inequality and schooling responses to globalization forces: lessons from history" by Jeffrey G. Williamson; "Trade, migration, and economic development: the risks and rewards of openness" by James F. Hollifield; and "Migration, trade, capital, and development: substitutes, complements, and policies" by Gustav Ranis.Emigration and immigration ; International trade ; Economic development

The Demand for Nursing Home Care: An Analysis of the Substitution Between Institutional and Noninstitutional Care

This paper analyzes the demand for nursing home care for the aged. The cross-sectional analysis indicates a high price elasticity of demand (-2.2), and that the demand is greater the less capable are the aged of providing own care, the better the job opportunities of adult women, and the wealthier the SMSA. Utilization increased 67percentfrom 1963 to 1973,but 64 percentage points is attributable to changes in these demand shift variables. This casts doubt on the view that the growth in utilization was largely stimulated by changing public policies during the period.

Interpreting the coefficient of schooling in the human capital earnings function

The"human capital earnings function"(HCEF) has become a fundamental tool in research on earnings, wages, and incomes in industrial and developing economies. It is accepted procedure in litigation about earnings, such as cases involving the value of lost earnings due to injury, death, or discrimination. It is also often used to make educational policy decisions based on estimates of the rate of return from schooling. The HCEF relates the natural logarithm of earnings to investments in human capital measured in time, such as years of schooling and years of post-school work experience. Among its desirable features: 1) it is not an ad hoc specification; it is derived from an identity. So the coefficients of the equation have economic interpretations; 2) it uses data effieciently; 3) it is flexible, allowing for easy incorporations of variables appropriate for a particular study; and 4) the coefficients of the HCEF are devoid of units, facilitating comparisons across space (such as countries) or across time periods (such as decades). In estimating the rate of return from schooling, the coefficient of the schooling variable is often interpreted as the rate of return from schooling. This may be the correct interpretation but the author shows that in principle -and in many circumstances- it is not. He also discusses the effects on the coeffiecient of schooling of the treatment of the labor supply (weeks worked and hours worked per week) and other measures of labor market outcomes,Teaching and Learning,Fiscal&Monetary Policy,Labor Policies,Education Reform and Management,Environmental Economics&Policies,Teaching and Learning,Environmental Economics&Policies,Education Reform and Management,Poverty Assessment,Inequality

The Economic Progress of American Jewry: From 18th Century Merchants to 21st Century Professionals

This paper tracks the economic status of American Jewry over the past three centuries. It relies on qualitative material in the early period and quantitative data since 1890. The primary focus is on the occupational status of Jewish men and women, compared to non-Jews, with additional analyses of earnings, self-employment, and wealth. The Jews in Colonial America, many of Sephardic origin, disproportionately lived in the east coast seaports and were engaged in international trade and finance. The mid-19th century German Jewish immigrants settled throughout the country; often beginning as itinerant peddlers, they advanced to small businesses, and some to not so small businesses in the retail trade. The Yiddish-speaking Eastern European and Russian Jewish immigrants, who arrived primarily in the four decades starting in 1881, are the ancestors of most contemporary American Jews. Starting in operative, craft and laborer jobs in small scale manufacturing or in retail trade in the northern and midwestern industrial cities, they experienced rapid economic advancement. Over the course of the 20th century their descendants achieved very impressive improvements in earnings and occupational status, attaining significantly higher levels than those of the non-Jewish white population. By the year 2000, 53 percent of Jewish men compared to 20 percent of white non-Jewish men were in professional occupations. Among working women in 2000, 51 percent of the Jewish women and 28 percent of non-Jewish white women were in professional jobs. Differences by gender were smaller than differences by religion. Other determinants of earnings the same, including schooling, American Jewish men earned about 16 percent more than other white men, an advantage that is about 8 percent when major occupational group is also held constant. American Jews, from the earliest period to the present, have had high rates of self-employment compared to the non-farm white population of the United States. The nature of this self-employment has changed over time, and currently includes many self-employed professionals. The high level of human wealth of contemporary American Jews is not at the expense of non-human wealth. Overall, and even when other variables including schooling are held constant, Jews have higher levels of wealth and higher rates of wealth accumulation than other religious groups. In summary, over the 350 years since the first Jews settled in what is now the United States, American Jews have consistently demonstrated a very high level of economic achievement.Jews, immigrants, occupations, earnings, self-employment, wealth

Top Ten Myths and Fallacies Regarding Immigration

This paper analyzes what the author views as the current top ten myths and fallacies regarding immigration and immigration policy in the United States.immigrants, immigration policy, myths, fallacies

Immigration: High Skilled vs. Low Skilled Labor?

This policy analysis paper explores the implications for the host country population of alternative immigration policies. The two immigration options considered are a policy based on admitting primarily high-skilled workers and another that has the effect of admitting primarily low-skilled workers. The implications for the native-born population for their aggregate level of income, the distribution of their income by skill level, and the size of the income redistribution system are considered. The paper was prepared for the Productivity Commission of Australia.immigrant impact, immigrant skills, immigration policy

The Economics of Language: An Introduction and Overview

This paper provides an introduction and overview of my research on the Economics of Language. The approach is that language skills among immigrants and native-born linguistic minorities are a form of human capital. There are costs and benefits associated with this characteristic embodied in the person. The analysis focuses on the economic and demographic determinants of destination language proficiency among immigrants. This is based on Exposure, Efficiency and Economic Incentives (the three E’s) for proficiency. It also focuses on the labor market consequences (earnings) of proficiency for immigrants and native-born bilinguals. The empirical testing for the US, Canada, Australia, Israel and Bolivia is supportive of the theoretical models.immigrants, language, bilingualism, human capital, earnings

The Rise and Fall of the American Jewish PhD

This paper is concerned with trends over the post-WWII period in the employment of American Jews as College and University teachers and in their receipt of the PhD. The empirical analysis is for PhD production from 1950 to 2004 and Jews are identified by the Distinctive Jewish Name (DJN) technique. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analyses are reported. Central roles are played in the regression analysis by variables for military conscription, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and US government funding for research and development. Among the DJNs, the simple data show that male PhD graduates increased in number in the post-war period up to early 1970s, and declined thereafter. Among DJN women, however, annual PhD production increased throughout the period. The ratio of DJN to all PhDs declined throughout the period for both men and women. Other variables the same, male DJN PhD production increased to about 1967 and then declined, while for DJN females it increased throughout the period. The ratio of DJN to all PhDs started to decline among men in the 1950s and continued thereafter, while among women the DJN share increased until about 1979, and then declined. These data are consisted with the hypothesis that discrimination against Jews in salaried professional occupations declined in the post-WWII period earlier in College and University teaching than in other sectors of the economy that do not require a PhD degree for employment.discrimination, education, American Jews, gender