School Quality and the Distribution of Male Earnings in Canada

Using quantile regressions, this paper provides evidence that the relationship between school quality and wages varies across points in the conditional wage distribution and educational attainment levels. Although smaller classes generally have a positive return for individuals at high quantiles, they have a negative impact at low quantiles. Similarly, while more highly paid teachers benefit drop-outs at high quantiles and graduates at low quantiles, they have a negative return for all other quantile-education groups. The results presented in this paper also suggest that the optimal school for high school graduates is likely smaller than for high school drop-outs.school quality, quantiles, wages

The Location of Women's Prisons and the Deterrence Effect of 'Harder' Time

Most studies of the deterrence effect of incarceration treat a year in prison as having the same deterrence effect regardless of the conditions of incarceration. In contrast, we estimate both the impact of custody rate and prison location changes on female crime rates. We take advantage of the natural experiment created by recent expansions of the female penal system; many states witnessed a rapid doubling of prison capacity. The physical expansion of the penal system decreased the distance to prisons for some cities while increasing it for others. Movement in both directions is particularly helpful because it ensures that we are not identifying relationships off coincidental one-directional trends. Our results suggest that prison location has a sizable deterrence effect. Increasing the average distance to a woman’s prison by 40 miles reduces the female violent crime rate by approximately 7 percent.

Against All Odds: The Surprising Labor Market Success of Young Mexican Women

Using the NLSY, we find that young Mexican women earn 11.7% less than young White women while young Black women earn 19.2% less than young White women. Although young Mexican women earn less than young White women, they do surprisingly well compared to young Black women. We show that while it is crucially important to account for actual labor market experience, it does not matter if we account for childbirth patterns, and non-linearities in the experience profile. We further show that low labor force attachment is the most important determinant of the Black-White wage differential for young women while education is the most important explanation for the Mexican-White wage gap for young women.

Does Single Parenthood Increase the Probability of Teenage Promiscuity, Drug Use and Crime?

There is longstanding evidence that children raised by single parents are more likely to perform poorly in school and partake in ‘deviant’ behaviors such as smoking, sex, substance use and crime at young ages. However, as of yet there is not widespread evidence or agreement as to whether or not the timing of the marital disruption differentially impacts youth outcomes. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) and the NLSY Young Adult Supplement, we find that the longer the biological father remains in the household the lower the probability that youth engage in sexual activity. In contrast, it is youth whose fathers are never present who are more likely to be convicted of a crime, youth whose fathers leave during adolescence who are more likely to drink alcohol and use illegal drugs and youth whose fathers leave during childhood who are more likely to smoke cigarettes.Family Structure; Marital Dissolution; Youth Outcomes

The Racial Wage Gap: The Importance of Labor Force Attachment Differences Across Black, Mexican and White Men

Labor market attachment differs significantly across black, Mexican and white men; black and Mexican men are more likely to experience unemployment and out of the labor force spells than are white men. While it has long been agreed that potential experience is a poor proxy of actual experience for women, many view it as an acceptable approximation for men. Using the NLSY, this paper documents the substantial difference between potential and actual experience for both black and Mexican men. We show that the fraction of the black/white and Mexican/white wage gaps that are explained by differences in potential experience are very different than the fraction of the racial wage gaps that are explained by actual (real) experience differences. We further show that the fraction of the racial wage gap explained by education is substantially overstated when potential experience is used instead of actual experience.Discrimination; Wages

The Decision to Work by Married Immigrant Women: The Role of Extended Family Households

We find differential rates of cohabitation with adult relatives as well as differential impacts of that cohabitation on the probability of employment for married female immigrants across regions of origin. This suggests that traditions and/or cultural determinants of family structure influence female labor force participation. Not surprisingly, we also find that the labor supply response is biggest for immigrants with young children. This further suggests that cohabitation allows married immigrant women to share childcare and other household responsibilities, which in turn increases the probability that they work outside of the home.Family Structure; Female Labor Force Participation; Immigration

The Allocation of Public School Expenditures

While the Serrano v Priest decisions and Proposition 13 effectively rendered California school district budgets exogenous, intra-district resource allocation remains largely at the discretion of school district administrations. As a result, Serrano v Priest and Proposition 13 alleviate concerns about the potentially endogenous relationship between student body composition and inter-district resource disparity and allow us to focus on consistently estimating the effect of classroom versus non-classroom spending. We find that teaching expenditures have a positive effect on student performance while nonteaching expenditures have a negative effect. Either the reallocation of $100 from administrative to classroom spending, with no change in overall expenditures, or an$100 increase aimed directly at the classroom moves the average California high school approximately 5 percentage points higher in the state test score rankings. These results are similar across grade levels (elementary, middle and high schools) and subject areas (mathematics, reading, language, spelling, social studies, and science). Our results suggest that both current and future educational expenditures should be targeted towards the classroom.school spending; test scores

Does Single Parenthood Increase the Probability of Teenage Promiscuity, Drug Use, and Crime? Evidence from Divorce Law Changes

It has long since been established that children raised by single parents are more likely to become sexually active, commit illegal acts, and use illegal drugs at young ages. What has not been determined is whether or not there is a causal effect associated with the disintegration of the family. Would these children have been more likely to participate in ‘deviant’ behavior even if their family structure had remained intact? This study provides evidence in favor of a negative causal impact of single-parent status. Using state-level divorce law changes to instrument for years that the biological father lives in the household, we find that youth who spend part of their childhood/youth living in a household that does not include their biological father are more likely to smoke regularly, become sexually active, and be convicted of a crime.Family Structure; Marital Dissolution; Youth Outcomes

School Size and the Distribution of Test Scores

After forty years of school consolidation, the preponderance of the evidence, including the results presented in this paper, suggest that the race to reap returns to scale and specialization in education may have come at a high price. This paper uses newly available STAR test score data from California to explore the relationship between school size and the distribution of test scores across elementary, middle, and high schools. We find that school size has a statistically significant and economically large impact on school performance. For example, the probability that an average suburban high school is dominated by low scorers rises from 47% to 71% as the school grows from 200 to 800 students per grade.school size, test scores

Wage and Test Score Dispersion: Some International Evidence

We study fifty observations on wage distributions across eleven countries and two age cohorts defined by international mathematics tests given to thirteen-year-olds in 1962 and 1982. We find that wage dispersion later in life is never greater than test score dispersion. In particular, Lorenz curves for a cohort's wages always lie above or on top of the cohort's test score Lorenz curve. Wage dispersion, as summarized by Gini coefficients, is significantly related to test score dispersion and union density in the country. A general fall in test score dispersion between 1962 and 1982 appears to be reflected in reduced wage dispersion. For three countries with available data (the U.S., the U.K., and Japan), we find evidence of skill-biased changes in wage dispersion between the early 1970s and the late 1980s.Mathematics test scores, Wage distributions, Lorenz curves