New Methods for Estimating Labor Supply Functions: A Survey

This paper surveys new methods for estimatifg labor supply functions. A unified framework of analysis is presented. All recent models of labor supply are special cases of a general index function model developed for the analysis o dummy endogenous variables.

A Note on Adapting Propensity Score Matching and Selection Models to Choice Based Samples

The probability of selection into treatment plays an important role in matching and selection models. However, this probability can often not be consistently estimated, because of choice-based sampling designs with unknown sampling weights. This note establishes that the selection and matching procedures can be implemented using propensity scores fit on choice-based samples with misspecified weights, because the odds ratio of the propensity score fit on the choice-based sample is monotonically related to the odds ratio of the true propensity scores.choice-based sampling, matching models, propensity scores, selection models

Grand Unified Yukawa Matrix Ansatz: The Standard Model Fermion Mass, Quark Mixing and CP Violation Parameters

We propose a new mass matrix ansatz: At the grand unified (GU) scale, the standard model (SM) Yukawa coupling matrix elements are integer powers of the square root of the GU gauge coupling constant \varepsilon \equiv \sqrt{\alpha_{\text{GU}}}, multiplied by order unity random complex numbers. It relates the hierarchy of the SM ermion masses and quark mixings to the gauge coupling constants, greatly reducing the SM parameters, and can give good fitting results of the SM fermion mass, quark mixing and CP violation parameters. This is a neat but very effective ansatz.Comment: 4 pages (two columns), by REVTeX 4, 2 tables, no figures, version for publication in CP

EARNINGS FUNCTIONS AND RATES OF RETURN

The internal rate of return to schooling is a fundamental economic parameter that is often used to assess whether expenditure on education should be increased or decreased. This paper considers alternative approaches to estimating marginal internal rates of return for different schooling levels. We implement a general nonparametric approach to estimate marginal internal rates of return that take into account tuition costs, income taxes and nonlinearities in the earnings-schooling-experience relationship. The returns obtained by the more general method differ substantially from Mincer returns in levels and in their evolution over time. They indicate relatively larger returns to graduating from high school than from graduating from college, although both have been increasing over time.

Fifty Years of Mincer Earnings Regressions

The Mincer earnings function is the cornerstone of a large literature in empirical economics. This paper discusses the theoretical foundations of the Mincer model and examines the empirical support for it using data from Decennial Censuses and Current Population Surveys. While data from 1940 and 1950 Censuses provide some support for Mincer's model, data from later decades are inconsistent with it. We examine the importance of relaxing functional form assumptions in estimating internal rates of return to schooling and of accounting for taxes, tuition, nonlinearity in schooling, and nonseparability between schooling and work experience. Inferences about trends in rates of return to high school and college obtained from our more general model differ substantially from inferences drawn from estimates based on a Mincer earnings regression. Important differences also arise between cohort-based and cross-sectional estimates of the rate of return to schooling. In the recent period of rapid technological progress, widely used cross-sectional applications of the Mincer model produce dramatically biased estimates of cohort returns to schooling. We also examine the implications of accounting for uncertainty and agent expectation formation. Even when the static framework of Mincer is maintained, accounting for uncertainty substantially affects the return estimates. Considering the sequential resolution of uncertainty over time in a dynamic setting gives rise to option values, which fundamentally changes the analysis of schooling decisions. In the presence of sequential resolution of uncertainty and option values, the internal rate of return - a cornerstone of classical human capital theory - is not a useful guide to policy analysis.

Earnings Functions, Rates of Return and Treatment Effects: The Mincer Equation and Beyond

This paper considers the interpretation of "Mincer rates of return." We test and reject the Mincer model. It fails to track the time series of true returns. We show how repeated cross section and panel data improves the ability of analysts to estimate the ex ante and ex post marginal rate of returns. Accounting for sequential revelation of information calls into question the validity of the internal rate of return as a tool for policy analysis. The large estimated psychic costs of schooling found in recent work helps to explain why persons do not attend school even though the financial rewards for doing so are high. We present methods for computing distributions of ex post and ex ante returns.

Earnings Functions and Rates of Return

The internal rate of return to schooling is a fundamental economic parameter that is often used to assess whether expenditure on education should be increased or decreased. This paper considers alternative approaches to estimating marginal internal rates of return for different schooling levels. We implement a general nonparametric approach to estimate marginal internal rates of return that take into account tuition costs, income taxes and nonlinearities in the earnings-schooling-experience relationship. The returns obtained by the more general method differ substantially from Mincer returns in levels and in their evolution over time. They indicate relatively larger returns to graduating from high school than from graduating from college, although both have been increasing over time.schooling, marginal internal rate of return, nonparametric estimation

Extended trigonometric Cherednik algebras and nonstationary Schr\"odinger equations with delta-potentials

We realize an extended version of the trigonometric Cherednik algebra as affine Dunkl operators involving Heaviside functions. We use the quadratic Casimir element of the extended trigonometric Cherednik algebra to define an explicit nonstationary Schr\"odinger equation with delta-potential. We use coordinate Bethe ansatz methods to construct solutions of the nonstationary Schr\"odinger equation in terms of generalized Bethe wave functions. It is shown that the generalized Bethe wave functions satisfy affine difference Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov equations in their spectral parameter. The relation to the vector valued root system analogs of the quantum Bose gas on the circle with pairwise delta-function interactions is indicated.Comment: 23 pages; Version 2: expanded introduction and misprints correcte

Early Childhood Intervention. Rationale, Timing and Efficacy

This paper provides a brief review of the economic rationale for investing in early childhood. It discusses the optimal timing of intervention, with reference to recent work in developmental neuroscience, and asks how early is early? It motivates the need for early intervention by providing an overview of the impact of adverse factors during the antenatal and early childhood period on outcomes later in life. Early childhood interventions, even poorly designed ones, are costly to implement, therefore it is vital that interventions are well-designed if they are to yield high economic and social returns. The paper therefore presents a set of guiding principles for the effectiveness of early intervention. It concludes by presenting a case for a new study of the optimal timing of interventions.Early childhood intervention, brain development, optimal timing