Eric Gould - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Eric Gould
Social Science Research Network, 2015
This paper examines the effect of party affiliation on an individual's political views. To do thi... more This paper examines the effect of party affiliation on an individual's political views. To do this, we exploit the party realignment that occurred in the U.S. due to abortion becoming a more prominent and highly partisan issue over time. We show that abortion was not a highly partisan issue in 1982, but a person's abortion views in 1982 led many to switch parties over time as the two main parties diverged in their stances on this issue. We find that voting for a given political party in 1996, due to the individual's initial views on abortion in 1982, has a substantial effect on a person's political, social, and economic attitudes in 1997. These findings are stronger for highly partisan political issues, and are robust to controlling for a host of personal views and characteristics in 1982 and 1997. As individuals realigned their party affiliation in accordance with their initial abortion views, their other political views followed suit.
Econ Journal Watch, 2013
Our paper in Labour Economics (Gould and Kaplan 2011) examined the general issue of how workers a... more Our paper in Labour Economics (Gould and Kaplan 2011) examined the general issue of how workers affect the productivity of co-workers, and in particular whether unethical practices that boost performance are transmitted between workers. To do this, we investigated the steroid epidemic in Major League Baseball and Jose Canseco's claims that he taught his teammates how to acquire and use steroids and human growth hormone. Our results support Canseco's claim by presenting a striking pattern whereby a player's performance indeed tends to increase after being a teammate of Canseco. Our results are based upon standard measures of performance, and we found very little systematic evidence across outcome measures that any comparable player increased the performance of his peers in a similar way. J. C. Bradbury (2013) has authored an extensive critique of our paper; the present paper is our reply. Bradbury makes no claims that our results are nonreplicable or that they involve a programming error. Rather, he presents a series of criticisms about our choices regarding specification, sample, and other matters. His critique does not provide any convincing reason to reject our conclusions. We disagree with all of Bradbury's major criticisms-which can largely be summarized as his belief that we should have imposed several very restrictive assumptions on our specification and estimation, and that we used too much data and did not adequately censor our sample on an outcome variable. It is highly unusual to criticize a paper for not deleting years of data and for not censoring the sample on an outcome measure. Moreover, Bradbury mounts criticisms that reveal
The Economic Journal, Jun 23, 2009
This paper uses the mass migration wave to Israel in the 1990s to examine the impact of immigrant... more This paper uses the mass migration wave to Israel in the 1990s to examine the impact of immigrant concentration in elementary school on the long-term academic outcomes of native students in high school. To identify the causal effect of immigrant children on their peers, we exploit random variation in the number of immigrants across grades within the same school. The results suggest that the overall presence of immigrants had essentially no effect on the quality of the high school attended by native Israelis and on dropout rates, and at most a mild negative effect on high school matriculation rates. However, when we break up the sample by parents' education and by ethnic origin, we find that disadvantaged children were more likely to have been adversely affected by a higher immigrant concentration in elementary school. Focusing on the impact of Ethiopian immigrants who are from a much lower socio-economic background, we find stronger evidence of adverse effects, especially for disadvantaged students and in classes where immigrant concentration was particularly high.
This paper examines the transmission of human capital from parents to children using variation in... more This paper examines the transmission of human capital from parents to children using variation in parental influence due to parental death, divorce, and the increasing specialization of parental roles in larger families. All three sources of variation yield strikingly similar patterns which show that the strong parent-child correlation in human capital is largely causal. In each case, the parentchild correlation in education is stronger with the parent that spends more time with the child, and weaker with the parent that spends relatively less time parenting. These findings help us understand why educated parents spend more time with their children.
Social Science Research Network, 2011
This paper uses variation created by parental deaths in the amount of time children spend with ea... more This paper uses variation created by parental deaths in the amount of time children spend with each parent to examine whether the parent-child correlation in schooling outcomes stems from a causal relationship. Using a large sample of Israeli children who lost one parent during childhood, we find a series of striking patterns which show that the relationship is largely causal. Relative to children who did not lose a parent, the education of the deceased parent is less important in determining child outcomes, while the education of the surviving parent becomes a stronger factor. Moreover, within the group of families that lost a parent, this pattern intensifies when a child loses a parent earlier in life -the education of the deceased parent becomes even less important, while the effect of the surviving parent's schooling intensifies. These results provide strong evidence that there is a causal connection between parent and child schooling, which is dependent on the child's interaction time with each parent. These findings help us understand why educated parents typically spend more time with their children -they are more effective in producing human capital in their children.
Social Science Research Network, 2003
This paper examines why developed countries are monogamous while rich men throughout history have... more This paper examines why developed countries are monogamous while rich men throughout history have tended to practice polygyny (multiple wives). Wealth inequality naturally produces multiple wives for rich men in a standard model of the marriage market where polygyny is not ruled out. However, our model demonstrates that while higher male inequality generates more polygyny, higher female inequality produces a more monogamous equilibrium. Moreover, we derive how female inequality in the marriage market is higher in equilibrium as women are valued more for their quality versus quantity of children when human capital becomes more important in determining the distribution of income. As a result, male inequality in traditional societies generates inequality in the number of wives per man, but male inequality in developed societies, where human capital is a larger source of income and inequality, manifests itself as inequality in the quality of their wives. Using data from Cote d'Ivoire, we provide supporting evidence for the main implications of the model.
This paper argues that terrorism, beyond its immediate impact on innocent victims, also raises th... more This paper argues that terrorism, beyond its immediate impact on innocent victims, also raises the costs of crime, and therefore, imposes a negative externality on potential criminals. Terrorism raises the costs of crime through two channels: (i) by increasing the presence and activity of the police force, and (ii) causing more people to stay at home rather than going out for leisure activities. Our analysis exploits a panel of 120 fatal terror attacks and all reported crimes for 17 districts throughout Israel between 2000 and 2005. After controlling for the fixed-effect of each district and for district-specific time trends, we show that terror attacks reduce property crimes such as burglary, auto-theft, and thefts-from-cars. Terror also reduces assaults and aggravated assaults which occur in private homes, but increases incidents of trespassing and "disrupting the police." Taken as a whole, the results are consistent with a stronger deterrence effect produced by an increased police presence after a terror attack. A higher level of policing is likely to catch more people trespassing, and at the same time, reduce the number of property crimes. The decline in crimes committed in private houses is likely an indication that the tendency for individuals to stay home after a terror attack further increases the costs of crime.
After 9/11, Muslims in the US experienced a marked increase in hate crimes. In new research, Eric... more After 9/11, Muslims in the US experienced a marked increase in hate crimes. In new research, Eric Gould and Esteban Klor find that this increase in hate crimes against Muslim immigrants led to the Muslim community retreating from assimilation and becoming more traditional and more cohesive. What’s more, they write, the rate of assimilation of Muslim immigrants was slower in parts of the United States where there was a more intensive backlash.
Vintage human capital models imply that young workers will be the primary adopters and beneficiar... more Vintage human capital models imply that young workers will be the primary adopters and beneficiaries of new technologies. Because technological progress in general, and computers in particular, may be skill-biased and because human capital increases over the lifecycle, technological change may favor experienced workers. This paper estimates the relationship between experience and technology adoption and the effect of technological change on the returns to experience. Estimates indicate that technological change is an important explanation for changes in experience premia. We find a complementarity between existing human capital and computer adoption and provide evidence that young workers are better able to adapt to new technologies. Our estimates also shed light on creative destruction models of the productivity slowdown.
Brain-Drain from Israel/בריחת המוחות מישראל
Social Science Research Network, 2015
Explaining the Unexplained: Residual Wage Inequality, Manufacturing Decline, and Low-Skilled Immi... more Explaining the Unexplained: Residual Wage Inequality, Manufacturing Decline, and Low-Skilled Immigration * This paper investigates whether the increasing "residual wage inequality" trend is related to manufacturing decline and the influx of low-skilled immigrants. There is a vast literature arguing that technological change, international trade, and institutional factors have played a significant role in the inequality trend. However, most of the trend is unexplained by observable factors. This paper attempts to "explain" the growth in the unexplained variance of wages by exploiting variation across locations (states or cities) in the United States in the local level of "residual inequality." The evidence shows that a shrinking manufacturing sector increases inequality. In addition, an influx of low-skilled immigrants increases inequality, but this effect is concentrated in areas with a steeper manufacturing decline. Similar results are found for two alternative measures linked to increasing inequality: the increasing return to education and the decline in the employment rate of non-college men. The overall evidence suggests that the manufacturing and immigration trends have hollowed-out the overall demand for middle-skilled workers in all sectors, while increasing the supply of workers in lower skilled jobs. Both phenomena are producing downward pressure on the relative wages of workers at the low end of the income distribution.
Does Parental Quality Matter? Evidence on the Transmission of Human Capital Using Variation in Parental Influence from Death, Divorce, and Family Size
Journal of Labor Economics, Apr 1, 2020
This paper examines the transmission of human capital from parents to children using variation in... more This paper examines the transmission of human capital from parents to children using variation in parental influence due to parental death, divorce, and the increasing specialization of parental roles in larger families. All three sources of variation yield strikingly similar patterns that show that the strong parent-child correlation in human capital is largely causal. In each case, the parent-child correlation in education is stronger with the parent who spends more time with the child and weaker with the parent who spends relatively less time parenting. These findings help us understand why educated parents spend more time with their children.
Social Science Research Network, 2005
This paper uses the mass migration wave to Israel in the 1990s to examine the impact of immigrant... more This paper uses the mass migration wave to Israel in the 1990s to examine the impact of immigrant concentration in elementary school on the long-term academic outcomes of native students in high school. To identify the causal effect of immigrant children on their peers, we exploit random variation in the number of immigrants across grades within the same school. The results suggest that the overall presence of immigrants had essentially no effect on the quality of the high school attended by native Israelis and on dropout rates, and at most a mild negative effect on high school matriculation rates. However, when we break up the sample by parents' education and by ethnic origin, we find that disadvantaged children were more likely to have been adversely affected by a higher immigrant concentration in elementary school. Focusing on the impact of Ethiopian immigrants who are from a much lower socio-economic background, we find stronger evidence of adverse effects, especially for disadvantaged students and in classes where immigrant concentration was particularly high.
The American Economic Review, Feb 1, 2008
This paper examines why developed countries are monogamous while rich men throughout history have... more This paper examines why developed countries are monogamous while rich men throughout history have tended to practice polygyny (multiple wives). Wealth inequality naturally produces multiple wives for rich men in a standard model of the marriage market. This paper argues that the sources of inequality, not just the level of inequality, determine the equilibrium degree of monogamy or polygyny. In particular, when inequality is determined more by disparities in human capital versus non-labor income (such as land, capital, corruption), the outcome is more monogamous. This explains why developed countries, where human capital is the main source of income and inequality, are monogamous while less-developed economies tend to be polygynous. The results are driven by the larger inequality in the value of women in the marriage market in modern economies. When the value of human capital increases, rich men increasingly value quality women who can help them raise quality children more efficiently. As a result, high quality women are valued much more than low quality women, which makes polygyny less affordable for rich men. In this manner, we show that male inequality generates polygyny, but female inequality reduces it. Using data from Cote d'Ivoire, we provide evidence for all the main implications of the model. In particular, we control for a man's total income and show that polygyny increases with non-labor income but decreases with labor income and education. These patterns are strong even within social groups where norms regarding polygyny are likely to be constant.
Individuals choose to invest in general skills through education or technology-speci…c skills by ... more Individuals choose to invest in general skills through education or technology-speci…c skills by working on the job. Technological progress, which occurs randomly across sectors, depreciates technology-speci…c skills -thus increasing the return to education and generating a precautionary element in the demand for education. Consistent with existing empirical evidence, the model predicts that the sources of inequality growth are di¤erent within educated and uneducated workers: increasing randomness is the primary source within uneducated workers, while inequality growth within educated workers is determined more by changes in the composition and return to ability. We demonstrate these predictions empirically, and also provide evidence that workers consider the income risk associated with being an uneducated worker when making their schooling decisions. The model generates an endogenous evolution of inequality "within" and "between" groups that is consistent with the patterns and sources of inequality growth over the last few decades. The model also generates patterns of inequality and skill composition within industrial sectors -most notably, the well-known positive correlation between the rate of technological change and skill-upgrading within an industry.
Economics Letters, 2012
This paper investigates whether the sources of income, not just the levels, determine whether an ... more This paper investigates whether the sources of income, not just the levels, determine whether an individual is monogamous. Our results support the idea that polygyny stunts development by allowing wealthy men to acquire wives rather than investing in child quality.
DP4803 The Mystery of Monogamy
DP6955 When is" Too Much" Inequality Not Enough? The Selection of Israeli Emigrants
The Review of Economics and Statistics, Aug 16, 2021
economists, whose research aims to provide answers to the global labor market challenges of our t... more economists, whose research aims to provide answers to the global labor market challenges of our time. Our key objective is to build bridges between academic research, policymakers and society. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author.
Our paper in Labour Economics (Gould and Kaplan 2011) examined the general issue of how workers a... more Our paper in Labour Economics (Gould and Kaplan 2011) examined the general issue of how workers affect the productivity of co-workers, and in particular whether unethical practices that boost performance are transmitted between workers. To do this, we investigated the steroid epidemic in Major League Baseball and Jose Canseco's claims that he taught his teammates how to acquire and use steroids and human growth hormone. Our results support Canseco's claim by presenting a striking pattern whereby a player's performance indeed tends to increase after being a teammate of Canseco. Our results are based upon standard measures of performance, and we found very little systematic evidence across outcome measures that any comparable player increased the performance of his peers in a similar way. J. C. Bradbury (2013) has authored an extensive critique of our paper; the present paper is our reply. Bradbury makes no claims that our results are non-replicable or that they involve a ...
Social Science Research Network, 2015
This paper examines the effect of party affiliation on an individual's political views. To do thi... more This paper examines the effect of party affiliation on an individual's political views. To do this, we exploit the party realignment that occurred in the U.S. due to abortion becoming a more prominent and highly partisan issue over time. We show that abortion was not a highly partisan issue in 1982, but a person's abortion views in 1982 led many to switch parties over time as the two main parties diverged in their stances on this issue. We find that voting for a given political party in 1996, due to the individual's initial views on abortion in 1982, has a substantial effect on a person's political, social, and economic attitudes in 1997. These findings are stronger for highly partisan political issues, and are robust to controlling for a host of personal views and characteristics in 1982 and 1997. As individuals realigned their party affiliation in accordance with their initial abortion views, their other political views followed suit.
Econ Journal Watch, 2013
Our paper in Labour Economics (Gould and Kaplan 2011) examined the general issue of how workers a... more Our paper in Labour Economics (Gould and Kaplan 2011) examined the general issue of how workers affect the productivity of co-workers, and in particular whether unethical practices that boost performance are transmitted between workers. To do this, we investigated the steroid epidemic in Major League Baseball and Jose Canseco's claims that he taught his teammates how to acquire and use steroids and human growth hormone. Our results support Canseco's claim by presenting a striking pattern whereby a player's performance indeed tends to increase after being a teammate of Canseco. Our results are based upon standard measures of performance, and we found very little systematic evidence across outcome measures that any comparable player increased the performance of his peers in a similar way. J. C. Bradbury (2013) has authored an extensive critique of our paper; the present paper is our reply. Bradbury makes no claims that our results are nonreplicable or that they involve a programming error. Rather, he presents a series of criticisms about our choices regarding specification, sample, and other matters. His critique does not provide any convincing reason to reject our conclusions. We disagree with all of Bradbury's major criticisms-which can largely be summarized as his belief that we should have imposed several very restrictive assumptions on our specification and estimation, and that we used too much data and did not adequately censor our sample on an outcome variable. It is highly unusual to criticize a paper for not deleting years of data and for not censoring the sample on an outcome measure. Moreover, Bradbury mounts criticisms that reveal
The Economic Journal, Jun 23, 2009
This paper uses the mass migration wave to Israel in the 1990s to examine the impact of immigrant... more This paper uses the mass migration wave to Israel in the 1990s to examine the impact of immigrant concentration in elementary school on the long-term academic outcomes of native students in high school. To identify the causal effect of immigrant children on their peers, we exploit random variation in the number of immigrants across grades within the same school. The results suggest that the overall presence of immigrants had essentially no effect on the quality of the high school attended by native Israelis and on dropout rates, and at most a mild negative effect on high school matriculation rates. However, when we break up the sample by parents' education and by ethnic origin, we find that disadvantaged children were more likely to have been adversely affected by a higher immigrant concentration in elementary school. Focusing on the impact of Ethiopian immigrants who are from a much lower socio-economic background, we find stronger evidence of adverse effects, especially for disadvantaged students and in classes where immigrant concentration was particularly high.
This paper examines the transmission of human capital from parents to children using variation in... more This paper examines the transmission of human capital from parents to children using variation in parental influence due to parental death, divorce, and the increasing specialization of parental roles in larger families. All three sources of variation yield strikingly similar patterns which show that the strong parent-child correlation in human capital is largely causal. In each case, the parentchild correlation in education is stronger with the parent that spends more time with the child, and weaker with the parent that spends relatively less time parenting. These findings help us understand why educated parents spend more time with their children.
Social Science Research Network, 2011
This paper uses variation created by parental deaths in the amount of time children spend with ea... more This paper uses variation created by parental deaths in the amount of time children spend with each parent to examine whether the parent-child correlation in schooling outcomes stems from a causal relationship. Using a large sample of Israeli children who lost one parent during childhood, we find a series of striking patterns which show that the relationship is largely causal. Relative to children who did not lose a parent, the education of the deceased parent is less important in determining child outcomes, while the education of the surviving parent becomes a stronger factor. Moreover, within the group of families that lost a parent, this pattern intensifies when a child loses a parent earlier in life -the education of the deceased parent becomes even less important, while the effect of the surviving parent's schooling intensifies. These results provide strong evidence that there is a causal connection between parent and child schooling, which is dependent on the child's interaction time with each parent. These findings help us understand why educated parents typically spend more time with their children -they are more effective in producing human capital in their children.
Social Science Research Network, 2003
This paper examines why developed countries are monogamous while rich men throughout history have... more This paper examines why developed countries are monogamous while rich men throughout history have tended to practice polygyny (multiple wives). Wealth inequality naturally produces multiple wives for rich men in a standard model of the marriage market where polygyny is not ruled out. However, our model demonstrates that while higher male inequality generates more polygyny, higher female inequality produces a more monogamous equilibrium. Moreover, we derive how female inequality in the marriage market is higher in equilibrium as women are valued more for their quality versus quantity of children when human capital becomes more important in determining the distribution of income. As a result, male inequality in traditional societies generates inequality in the number of wives per man, but male inequality in developed societies, where human capital is a larger source of income and inequality, manifests itself as inequality in the quality of their wives. Using data from Cote d'Ivoire, we provide supporting evidence for the main implications of the model.
This paper argues that terrorism, beyond its immediate impact on innocent victims, also raises th... more This paper argues that terrorism, beyond its immediate impact on innocent victims, also raises the costs of crime, and therefore, imposes a negative externality on potential criminals. Terrorism raises the costs of crime through two channels: (i) by increasing the presence and activity of the police force, and (ii) causing more people to stay at home rather than going out for leisure activities. Our analysis exploits a panel of 120 fatal terror attacks and all reported crimes for 17 districts throughout Israel between 2000 and 2005. After controlling for the fixed-effect of each district and for district-specific time trends, we show that terror attacks reduce property crimes such as burglary, auto-theft, and thefts-from-cars. Terror also reduces assaults and aggravated assaults which occur in private homes, but increases incidents of trespassing and "disrupting the police." Taken as a whole, the results are consistent with a stronger deterrence effect produced by an increased police presence after a terror attack. A higher level of policing is likely to catch more people trespassing, and at the same time, reduce the number of property crimes. The decline in crimes committed in private houses is likely an indication that the tendency for individuals to stay home after a terror attack further increases the costs of crime.
After 9/11, Muslims in the US experienced a marked increase in hate crimes. In new research, Eric... more After 9/11, Muslims in the US experienced a marked increase in hate crimes. In new research, Eric Gould and Esteban Klor find that this increase in hate crimes against Muslim immigrants led to the Muslim community retreating from assimilation and becoming more traditional and more cohesive. What’s more, they write, the rate of assimilation of Muslim immigrants was slower in parts of the United States where there was a more intensive backlash.
Vintage human capital models imply that young workers will be the primary adopters and beneficiar... more Vintage human capital models imply that young workers will be the primary adopters and beneficiaries of new technologies. Because technological progress in general, and computers in particular, may be skill-biased and because human capital increases over the lifecycle, technological change may favor experienced workers. This paper estimates the relationship between experience and technology adoption and the effect of technological change on the returns to experience. Estimates indicate that technological change is an important explanation for changes in experience premia. We find a complementarity between existing human capital and computer adoption and provide evidence that young workers are better able to adapt to new technologies. Our estimates also shed light on creative destruction models of the productivity slowdown.
Brain-Drain from Israel/בריחת המוחות מישראל
Social Science Research Network, 2015
Explaining the Unexplained: Residual Wage Inequality, Manufacturing Decline, and Low-Skilled Immi... more Explaining the Unexplained: Residual Wage Inequality, Manufacturing Decline, and Low-Skilled Immigration * This paper investigates whether the increasing "residual wage inequality" trend is related to manufacturing decline and the influx of low-skilled immigrants. There is a vast literature arguing that technological change, international trade, and institutional factors have played a significant role in the inequality trend. However, most of the trend is unexplained by observable factors. This paper attempts to "explain" the growth in the unexplained variance of wages by exploiting variation across locations (states or cities) in the United States in the local level of "residual inequality." The evidence shows that a shrinking manufacturing sector increases inequality. In addition, an influx of low-skilled immigrants increases inequality, but this effect is concentrated in areas with a steeper manufacturing decline. Similar results are found for two alternative measures linked to increasing inequality: the increasing return to education and the decline in the employment rate of non-college men. The overall evidence suggests that the manufacturing and immigration trends have hollowed-out the overall demand for middle-skilled workers in all sectors, while increasing the supply of workers in lower skilled jobs. Both phenomena are producing downward pressure on the relative wages of workers at the low end of the income distribution.
Does Parental Quality Matter? Evidence on the Transmission of Human Capital Using Variation in Parental Influence from Death, Divorce, and Family Size
Journal of Labor Economics, Apr 1, 2020
This paper examines the transmission of human capital from parents to children using variation in... more This paper examines the transmission of human capital from parents to children using variation in parental influence due to parental death, divorce, and the increasing specialization of parental roles in larger families. All three sources of variation yield strikingly similar patterns that show that the strong parent-child correlation in human capital is largely causal. In each case, the parent-child correlation in education is stronger with the parent who spends more time with the child and weaker with the parent who spends relatively less time parenting. These findings help us understand why educated parents spend more time with their children.
Social Science Research Network, 2005
This paper uses the mass migration wave to Israel in the 1990s to examine the impact of immigrant... more This paper uses the mass migration wave to Israel in the 1990s to examine the impact of immigrant concentration in elementary school on the long-term academic outcomes of native students in high school. To identify the causal effect of immigrant children on their peers, we exploit random variation in the number of immigrants across grades within the same school. The results suggest that the overall presence of immigrants had essentially no effect on the quality of the high school attended by native Israelis and on dropout rates, and at most a mild negative effect on high school matriculation rates. However, when we break up the sample by parents' education and by ethnic origin, we find that disadvantaged children were more likely to have been adversely affected by a higher immigrant concentration in elementary school. Focusing on the impact of Ethiopian immigrants who are from a much lower socio-economic background, we find stronger evidence of adverse effects, especially for disadvantaged students and in classes where immigrant concentration was particularly high.
The American Economic Review, Feb 1, 2008
This paper examines why developed countries are monogamous while rich men throughout history have... more This paper examines why developed countries are monogamous while rich men throughout history have tended to practice polygyny (multiple wives). Wealth inequality naturally produces multiple wives for rich men in a standard model of the marriage market. This paper argues that the sources of inequality, not just the level of inequality, determine the equilibrium degree of monogamy or polygyny. In particular, when inequality is determined more by disparities in human capital versus non-labor income (such as land, capital, corruption), the outcome is more monogamous. This explains why developed countries, where human capital is the main source of income and inequality, are monogamous while less-developed economies tend to be polygynous. The results are driven by the larger inequality in the value of women in the marriage market in modern economies. When the value of human capital increases, rich men increasingly value quality women who can help them raise quality children more efficiently. As a result, high quality women are valued much more than low quality women, which makes polygyny less affordable for rich men. In this manner, we show that male inequality generates polygyny, but female inequality reduces it. Using data from Cote d'Ivoire, we provide evidence for all the main implications of the model. In particular, we control for a man's total income and show that polygyny increases with non-labor income but decreases with labor income and education. These patterns are strong even within social groups where norms regarding polygyny are likely to be constant.
Individuals choose to invest in general skills through education or technology-speci…c skills by ... more Individuals choose to invest in general skills through education or technology-speci…c skills by working on the job. Technological progress, which occurs randomly across sectors, depreciates technology-speci…c skills -thus increasing the return to education and generating a precautionary element in the demand for education. Consistent with existing empirical evidence, the model predicts that the sources of inequality growth are di¤erent within educated and uneducated workers: increasing randomness is the primary source within uneducated workers, while inequality growth within educated workers is determined more by changes in the composition and return to ability. We demonstrate these predictions empirically, and also provide evidence that workers consider the income risk associated with being an uneducated worker when making their schooling decisions. The model generates an endogenous evolution of inequality "within" and "between" groups that is consistent with the patterns and sources of inequality growth over the last few decades. The model also generates patterns of inequality and skill composition within industrial sectors -most notably, the well-known positive correlation between the rate of technological change and skill-upgrading within an industry.
Economics Letters, 2012
This paper investigates whether the sources of income, not just the levels, determine whether an ... more This paper investigates whether the sources of income, not just the levels, determine whether an individual is monogamous. Our results support the idea that polygyny stunts development by allowing wealthy men to acquire wives rather than investing in child quality.
DP4803 The Mystery of Monogamy
DP6955 When is" Too Much" Inequality Not Enough? The Selection of Israeli Emigrants
The Review of Economics and Statistics, Aug 16, 2021
economists, whose research aims to provide answers to the global labor market challenges of our t... more economists, whose research aims to provide answers to the global labor market challenges of our time. Our key objective is to build bridges between academic research, policymakers and society. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author.
Our paper in Labour Economics (Gould and Kaplan 2011) examined the general issue of how workers a... more Our paper in Labour Economics (Gould and Kaplan 2011) examined the general issue of how workers affect the productivity of co-workers, and in particular whether unethical practices that boost performance are transmitted between workers. To do this, we investigated the steroid epidemic in Major League Baseball and Jose Canseco's claims that he taught his teammates how to acquire and use steroids and human growth hormone. Our results support Canseco's claim by presenting a striking pattern whereby a player's performance indeed tends to increase after being a teammate of Canseco. Our results are based upon standard measures of performance, and we found very little systematic evidence across outcome measures that any comparable player increased the performance of his peers in a similar way. J. C. Bradbury (2013) has authored an extensive critique of our paper; the present paper is our reply. Bradbury makes no claims that our results are non-replicable or that they involve a ...