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Abstract:
The Federal criminal sentencing guidelines struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005 required that males and females who commit the same crime and have the same prior criminal record be sentenced equally. Using data obtained from the United States Sentencing Commission's records, we examine whether there exists any gender-based bias in criminal sentencing decisions. We treat months in prison as a censored variable in order to account for the frequent outcome of no prison time. Additionally, we control for the self-selection of the defendant into guilty pleas through use of an endogenous switching regression model. A new decomposition methodology is employed. Our results indicate that women receive more lenient sentences even after controlling for circumstances such as the severity of the offense and past criminal history.

discrimination, criminal justice, decomposition analysis, limited dependent variable analysis

Abstract:
The Gender wage gap in Denmark has virtually stagnated since the early 1970's. This study examines whether this stagnation is mainly due to a changing wage dispersion or to changing prices on observed and unobserved skills. Since about half of the female labour force is employed in the public sector, the impact of the changing wage structure between the public and private sectors is investigated. The analysis is based on the Juhn-Murphy-Pierce decomposition applied to a pooled wage regression model. The equivalence between the former and the Oaxaca-Ransom generalized wage decomposition is established. These techniques are applied to a sample of Danish wage earners in the period 1983-94. The decomposition results suggest different explanations bethind the stagnation of the gender wage gap in the public and private sectors. The development in average public sector wages is calculated assuming observed and unobserved private sector prices are in effect.

Abstract:
Statistical discrimination occurs when distinctions between demographic groups are made on the basis of real or imagined statistical distinctions between the groups. While such discrimination is legal in some cases (e.g., insurance markets), it is illegal and/or controversial in others (e.g., racial profiling and gender-based labor market discrimination). "First-moment" statistical discrimination occurs when, for example, female workers are offered lower wages because females are perceived to be less productive, on average, than male workers. "Second-moment" discrimination would occur when risk-averse employers offer female workers lower wages based not on lower average productivity but on a higher variance in their productivity. This paper reports results from controlled laboratory experiments designed to study second-moment statistical discrimination in a labor market setting. Since decision-makers may not view risk in the same way as economists or statisticians (i.e., risk-variance of distribution), we also examine two possible alternative measures of risk: the support of the distribution, and the probability of earning less than the expected (maximum) profits for the employer. Our results indicate that individuals do respond to these alternative measures of risk, and employers made statistically discriminatory wage offers consistent with loss-aversion.

statistical discrimination, experiments, labor markets

Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to investigate wage structures of professional workers in the Israeli labor market, using data from the most recent 1995 Census and correcting for selectivity at the stage of entrance into the occupation. The sample of professionals is decomposed into several subsamples: men and women and within each gender a distinction is made between Easterners (origination from Asian/African countries) and Westerners (from European/American countries of origin). Comparisons by gender and ethnicity can then be made. Characteristics (endowments) and wage structures of the four groups are presented. Wage equations include the Inverse of Mill's Ratio as a regressor to correct for selection into the professional occupations. Wage differences are then examined and decomposed into 3 components: Endowments (human capital), discrimination and selectivity. Following the methodology presented in Neuman and Oaxaca (2004), four alternative decompositions are suggested and discussed.

endowments, discrimination, selectivity, gender, ethnicity, Israel

Abstract:
This paper develops a theoretical model of optimal schooling levels where ability and family background are the central explanatory variables. We derive schooling demand and supply functions based on individual wealth maximization. Using NLSY79 data we stratify our sample into one-year FTE work experience cohorts for 1985-1989. Mincer's (1974) overtaking cohort (the years of work experience at which individuals' observed earnings approximately equal what they would have been based on schooling and ability alone) corresponds to 13 FTE years of work experience yielding on average a rate of return of 9.6 percent and an average (optimal) 11.4 years of schooling.

human capital, ability, family background, schooling, earnings

Abstract:
We use a simple framework, adopted from general equilibrium search models, to estimate the extent to which monopsony power (or labor market frictions) can account for gender differences in pay, using data from a chain of regional grocery stores. In this framework, the elasticity of labor supply to the firm can be inferred from estimates of the elasticity of the separation rate with respect to the wage. We identify elasticities of separation from differences in wages and separation rates across job titles and across different years. We estimate elasticities of labor supply to the firm of about 3.5 for men and about 2.7 for women, suggesting significant wage-setting power for the firm. The differences in estimated elasticities of labor supply predict wage differences that are close to the observed male/female wage differences at the firm.

monopsony, gender, discrimination

Abstract:
The authors analyze eleven years of employment data for a regional grocery store chain in the United States that faced a class-action lawsuit over gender discrimination. The data include all employees' job titles, wage rates, and earnings, allowing an examination of initial job assignments, mobility between departments, and mobility into supervisory and management positions. An analysis that models the flows of individuals between different departments and jobs within the firm as a Markov process shows a pattern of intrafirm mobility and initial job assignment that generally penalized women, even when the analysis accounts for individuals' characteristics. Although the court-mandated affirmative action remedies were not formally implemented until after the period of the study, there were clear signs of relative improvement in the economic status of the firm's female employees as a result of the filing of the lawsuit and subsequent trial.

gender discrimination,sex differences in pay,affirmative action

Abstract:
In this paper we analyze eight years of employment data of a regional grocery store chain in the U.S. The data include job titles, wage rates, and earnings for all employees. We examine initial job assignments, mobility between departments, and mobility into supervisory and management positions in the firm. We model the flows of individuals between different departments and jobs within the firm as a Markov process. The estimated transition probabilities imply that expected seniority is greater for women. We find a pattern of intrafirm mobility and initial job assignment that generally penalizes women, even after taking account of individuals' characteristics.

Job Mobility, Seniority, Gender Wage Differentials

Abstract:
The conditions under which ordinary least squares (OLS) is an unbiased and consistent estimator of the linear probability model (LPM) are unlikely to hold in many instances. Yet the LPM still may be the correct model or a good approximation to the probability generating process. A sequential least squares (SLS) estimation procedure is introduced that may outperform OLS in terms of finite sample bias and yields a consistent estimator. Monte Carlo simulations reveal that SLS outperforms OLS, probit and logit in terms of mean squared error of the predicted probabilities.

Linear Probability Model, Sequential Least Squares, Consistency, Monte Carlo

Abstract:
We compare how U.S. and Danish gender wage gaps have developed between 1983 and 1995 using U.S. PSID and Danish Longitudinal Sample data. Using a new decomposition method, we show that changes in returns to observable skills and ranking effects outweigh women's gains due to qualifications and account for a rising gap in Denmark, while these effects cannot counter the large decline in the wage gap in the U.S. in this period. Increased wage dispersion has a minimal effect on the gap in both countries. Women at the highest decile in Denmark face the biggest increase in the gap, while in the U.S., the decline is largest at the top and at the middle of the distribution.

Gender Wage Gaps, Decomposition Method

Abstract:
While the gender wage gap has reduced considerably in the U.S. since the late 1970s, in Denmark it has virtually stagnated over the same period. Using the U.S. CPS and the Danish Longitudinal Sample data, we compare the development in the gender wage gaps in these two countries between 1983-1995 in both time-series and microeconometric analyses. We present a new decomposition methodology that is anchored on the overall wage distribution and show that the difference in the rates of convergence of the wage gaps in the two countries in this period can be explained by inter-country differences in the wage effects of observed skill prices and gender differences in selectivity. In Denmark, these effects have wiped out any gains arising from women's skill improvement. In the U.S., these effects have not offset women's wage gains due to skill-improvement. Decompositions at different deciles of the distribution show that women at the highest decile in Denmark have the biggest increase in the wage gap in this period, primarily due to unobservables. In the U.S., the decline in the wage gap is largest at the top and at the middle of the distribution.

gender wage gaps, decomposition method

Abstract:
We address the bias from using potential vs. actual experience in earnings models. Statistical tests reject the classical errors-in-variable framework. The nature of the measurement error is best viewed as a model misspecification problem. We correct for this by modeling actual experience as a stochastic regressor and predicting experience using the NLSY79 and the PSID. Predicted experience measures are applied to the IPUMS. Our results suggest that potential experience biases the effects of schooling and the rates of return to labor market experience. Using such a measure in earnings models underestimates the explained portion of the male-female wage gap.

experience, specification error, decomposition, gender

Abstract:
In this paper we develop a job portfolio model of dual job holding based on a Stone-Geary utility function. We derive the associated Slutsky equation components. Because the job portfolio model applies only to unconstrained dual jobholders, we separate individuals who moonlight because of an hours constraint from dual jobholders who work on two job for reasons different from an hours constraint. Income and wage elasticities are estimated for workers without hours constraints using data from the May 1991 supplement to the Current Population Survey. Our study finds that the income and compensated wage elasticities are much larger for labor supply to job 2 compared with job 1.

dual job, labor supply, Stone-Geary

Abstract:
This paper develops a theoretical model of optimal schooling levels where ability and family background are the central explanatory variables. We derive schooling demand and supply functions based on individual wealth maximization. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 data, we stratify our sample into 1-yr full-time equivalent (FTE) work experience cohorts for 1985-1989. The estimated Mincerian overtaking cohort (the years of work experience at which individuals observed earnings approximately equal what they would have been based on schooling and ability alone) corresponds to 13 FTE years of experience, yielding on average a rate of return of 10.3% and an average (optimal) 11.4 yr of schooling.

Abstract:
The purpose of this Paper is to investigate wage structures of professional workers in the Israeli labor market, using data from the most recent 1995 Census and correcting for selectivity at the stage of entrance into the occupation. The sample of professionals is decomposed into several subsamples: men and women, and within each gender a distinction is made between Easterners (originating from Asian/African countries) and Westerners (from European/American countries of origin). Comparisons by gender and ethnicity can then be made. Characteristics (endowments) and wage structures of the four groups are presented. Wage equations include the Inverse of Mill's Ratio as a regressor to correct for selection into the professional occupations. Wage differences are then examined and decomposed into three components: endowments (human capital), discrimination and selectivity. Following the methodology presented in Neuman and Oaxaca (2004), four alternative decompositions are suggested and discussed.

Employment spells, non-employment, gender, ethnicity, education, age, marital status

Abstract:
An intuitively appealing method for estimating gender wage gaps by industry is shown to yield estimates that vary according to the arbitrary choice of left-out reference groups for non-industry categorical variables, such as race and marital status. This study uses data from the Current Population Surveys to explore alternative methods for estimating gender wage gaps by industry that are not susceptible to the identification problem. Statistical significance measures reveal when relative industry wage gap rankings are not statistically meaningful. The methodology readily extends to other contexts such as racial, union-nonunion, or immigrant-native wage gaps by industry, occupational, or regional groupings.

Abstract:
This paper presents a modified and improved methodology for the decomposition of wage differentials between two groups of workers into an endowment component and a discrimination component. The standard decomposition technique does not take into account different probabilities of entering the profession under discussion. To incorporate this type of segregation into the wage differential decompositions, two statistical methodologies are merged: the Oaxaca methodology and the Heckman selectivity bias correction procedure. Using information derived from the entrance equations, the decomposition procedure is then modified, in order to take into account the contribution of segregation to the endowments and the discrimination components. It appears that there is more than one way to do it. The proposed methodology is applied to the analysis of wages of professionals in the Israeli labor market. Comparisons are made between the two genders and between Westerners and Easterners. Our results show that discrimination plays a more important role in explaining gender wage differentials than in explaining ethnic wage gaps and that selectivity corrected decompositions are quite capable of yielding very different conclusions than those based on the standard decompositions.