Low-wage, service-providing occupations accounted for almost half of all U.S. net job growth between 2006 and 2016. The authors study the variation in wages of low-wage service employees across U.S. metropolitan statistical areas, using cross-sectional estimations for 2016 for the 10th, 50th, and 90th percentile wage rates. New data are used to examine the impact of different cost-of-living adjustments on model results, arguing that the preferred adjustment separates housing costs from other costs. The main results are that strong labor market conditions positively contribute to real wages in most of the categories; minimum wages contribute positively to the 10th percentile of four occupations with evidence of influencing higher wages in the 50th and 90th percentiles; and using the authors' cost-of-living adjustment and controlling for housing costs, the presence of an educated population did not substantially raise wages in the four low-wage, low-skill occupations.

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth are at heightened risk for bullying and other forms of in-school victimization. Anti-bullying laws are a potential policy mechanism for addressing this issue, yet there has been little investigation of the impact of such policies for this population using generalizable samples or quasi-experimental designs. The current study explores whether the presence of state anti-bullying laws predicts lower likelihood of bullying victimization, fear-based absenteeism, in-school threats or injury with a weapon, and suicidality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning high school students in the United States. Based on Youth Risk Behavior Survey data across 22 states from 2005-2015, coupled with data about the presence of general and enumerated anti-bullying laws that include sexual orientation as a protected class, this study analyzes this topic using a quasi-experimental design (linear difference-in-difference models). The results indicate that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning youth (particularly boys aged 15 or younger) experienced less bullying victimization in states with general or enumerated anti-bullying laws. There was modest evidence of a reduction in fear-based absenteeism among boys in states with such laws. However, there was little evidence of a relationship between such policies and in-school threats or injuries or suicidality. Further, lesbian, bisexual, and questioning girls' likelihood of victimization, absenteeism, or suicidality was generally not related to the presence of anti-bullying laws. The results suggest that general and enumerated anti-bullying laws may help reduce bullying victimization for gay, bisexual, and questioning boys.

This paper uses unique administrative data to expand the understanding of the role women’s intermittency decisions play in the determination of their wages. We demonstrate that treating intermittency as exogenous significantly overstates its impact. The intermittency penalty also increases in the education level of the woman. The penalty for a woman with a high school degree with an average amount of intermittency during six years after giving birth to her first child is roughly half the penalty for a college graduate. We also demonstrate the value of using an index to capture multiple dimensions of the intermittency experience, and we illustrate the importance of firm dynamics in the determination of a woman’s wage.

The purpose of this study is to explain urban wage differentials with a special focus on educational levels. The authors explore whether the share of people with a bachelor's degree or higher in the community matters to the wages of those within specific educational cohorts, accounting for cost of living, human capital externalities, consumer externalities, policy factors, and local labor market conditions. Using data for all U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas between 2005 and 2012, the authors find that the presence of more highly educated people will result in a higher median wage in the community overall, as do many studies, but that this factor does not significantly increase the wage for any individual education cohort. These results are hidden if we only look at the entire workforce in the aggregate.

School districts use a variety of policies to close budget gaps and stave off teacher layoffs and furloughs. More schools are implementing four-day school weeks to reduce overhead and transportation costs. The four-day week requires substantial schedule changes as schools must increase the length of their school day to meet minimum instructional hour requirements. Although some schools have indicated this policy eases financial pressures, it is unknown whether there is an impact on student outcomes. We use school-level data from Colorado to investigate the relationship between the four-day week and academic performance among elementary school students. Our results generally indicate a positive relationship between the four-day week and performance in reading and mathematics. These findings suggest there is little evidence that moving to a four-day week compromises student academic achievement. This research has policy relevance to the current U.S. education system, where many school districts must cut costs.

Over the years, the minimum dropout age has been raised to 18 in 21 states. Although these policy changes are promoted for their educational benefits, they have been shown to reduce crimes committed by youths in the affected age groups. However, an unintended consequence of increasing the minimum dropout age could be the displacement of crime from the streets to schools. We use data from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveys to estimate the relationship between minimum dropout age laws and student victimization. Our results suggest that higher minimum dropout ages increase the likelihood that females and younger students report missing school for fear of their safety and younger students are more likely to report being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property. Our results also yield some evidence that students are more likely to report being victims of in-school theft when the minimum dropout age is higher.

We examine some implications of the NLCB provisions regarding the “Unsafe School Choice Option.” Specifically, we consider whether in-school crime incidents have a direct impact on academic outcomes. The policy relevance of this issue arises from the potential interdependencies of academic outcomes and both in-school and neighborhood violent crime. We estimate the impact of school violent crimes and neighborhood violent crime on school outcomes based on a five year panel of elementary and middle schools in the City of Atlanta. The empirical work is complicated by the endogeneity of both school crime and neighborhood crime.

Utilizing linked vital statistics, administrative employer, and state welfare records, the analysis in this paper investigates the determinants of a woman's intermittent labor force decision at the time of a major life event: the birth of a child. The results indicate that both direct and opportunity labor market costs of exiting the workforce figure significantly into that decision. Further, the analysis reveals the importance of including information about the mother's prebirth job when making inferences about the role various demographics play in the intermittent labor force decision.

Recent economic events have created severe budget problems for state governments, and one area seemingly affected by this fiscal crisis is state funding for higher education. State governments have the ability to alter funding to higher education mostly through general fund contributions and earmarked revenue. This paper examines trends in state higher education appropriations, with a specific focus on the relationship between these two funding sources. We find that on average, total appropriations have actually increased over the past decade, and moreover, earmarked revenue has constituted an increasing share of higher education funding, while general fund contributions have been declining. Our regression analysis suggests that the magnitude of the fungibility between the two sources is substantial, but somewhat surprisingly, does not differ across recessions and expansions.

Using unique administrative data from the state of Georgia, this paper investigates women’s decisions to exit the labor market upon the birth of a child. Exits rates and their changes over time varies dramatically between married and single women giving birth. Only the pattern among single, less educated women can be considered consistent with changing labor force participation rates of women over the period of analysis. Potential policy implications of these changes are discussed.

Substantial racial disparities continue to persist in the prevalence of preterm births and low-birth-weight births. Health policy aimed at reducing these disparities could be better targeted if the differences in birth outcomes are better understood. This study decomposes these racial disparities in birth outcomes to determine the extent to which the disparities are driven by differences in measurable characteristics of black mothers and white mothers as well as the extent to which the gap results from differences in the impact of these characteristics. The analysis is focused on three adverse birth outcomes: preterm, early preterm birth (less than 32 weeks gestation), and low birth weight. The results suggest that differences in covariates accounted for approximately 25 percent of the gap in the incidence of preterm births. The specific characteristics that matter the most are marriage rates, father's characteristics, and prenatal care. For gestation-adjusted birth weight, approximately 16 percent of the racial gap for first births is explained by covariates; for subsequent births this covariate explanation rises to 22 percent of the gap. Furthermore, differences in coefficients explain about another quarter of the gap in preterm birth outcomes but very little of the gap in birth weight.

During the late 1990s, the convergence of women's labor force participation rates to men's rates came to a halt. This paper explores the degree to which the role of education and marriage in women's labor supply decisions also changed over this time period. Specifically, this paper investigates women's decisions to exit the labor market upon the birth of a child. The results indicate that changing exit behavior among married, educated women at this period in their lives was not likely the driving force behind the aggregate changes seen in labor force participation. Rather, changes in exit rates among single women, particularly those less educated, are much more consistent with the changing pattern of aggregate female labor force participation.

Teen mothers in the United States are more likely to give birth to low birth weight babies. Substantial evidence indicates that smoking is a risk factor correlated with low birth weight. Low birth weight is a costly outcome for parents, children, and society at large. This paper examines the causal link between teen smoking behavior and low birth weight. We use a variety of empirical techniques, including fixed effects and a matching estimator, to identify the impact of smoking on babies of teen and nonteen mothers. Both ordinary least squares and matching estimators yield large impacts of smoking on birth weight for teens and adults. However, to the extent that unobservables are fixed over time, they can be controlled using fixed effects. These estimates indicate that the impact of smoking on birth weight is diminished. and there are small differences in the impact of smoking on birth weight between teens and nonteens.

This article models the concentration of computer services activity across the U.S. with factors that incorporate spatial relationships. Specifically, we enhance the standard home-area study with an analysis that allows conditions in neighboring counties to affect the concentration of employment in the home county. We use county-level data for metropolitan areas between 1990 and 1997. To measure change in employment concentration, we use the change in location quotients for SIC 737, which captures employment concentration changes caused by both the number of firms and the scale of their activity relative to the national average. After controlling for local demand for computer services, our results support the importance of the presence of a qualified labor supply, interindustry linkages, proximity to a major airport, and spatial processes in explaining changes in computer services employment concentration, finding little support for the influence of cost factors. Our enhanced model reveals interjurisdictional relationships among these metro counties that could not be captured with standard estimates by state, metropolitan statistical area (MSA), or county. Using counties within MSAs, therefore, provides more general results than case studies but still allows measurement of local interactions.

European maternity legislation is more generous than that afforded pregnant workers in the United States and may, in part, may explain the higher US infant mortality rate. This coupled with older women and more non-married women having children has increased interest in the health effects of job stress on pregnancy outcomes in the United States. The few studies available have, for the most part, used self-reported data to assess the association between job stress and instantaneous abortion and findings have been mixed. This work, along with the anecdotal evidence from Europe, suggests that reducing job stress may benefit infant health. However, the first step is to provide more empirical evidence on the exact relationship between employment, job stress, and birth outcomes, which is the aim of this study. The analysis utilizes data from the Vital Statistics birth records from the State of Georgia for the period 1994 to 2002 linked with two sets of state administrative records compiled by the Georgia Department of Labor for the purposes of administering the state's Unemployment Insurance (UI) program, and Welfare Recipient Data from the Georgia Department of Human Resources. These data provide a census of working mothers in the state and contain detailed information on individual human capital, health (pregnancy outcomes), welfare, and labor market characteristics as well as information on the human capital characteristics of the father. After deleting observations with missing data, the sample includes information on 591,105 births to working mothers in this time period. In the analysis adverse birth outcomes are measured by complications of labor and delivery, congenial defects, premature birth, and low-birth weight. Job stress was characterized as holding multiple jobs, a high employer turnover rate, and firm tenure. Preliminary findings reveal positive and statistically significant associations between birth outcomes and job stress. Thus these results suggest that work related stress is detrimental to birth outcomes. To the extent that more generous prenatal benefits including extended maternity leave and job protection reduce stress, one would expect birth outcomes to improve. This is a direction for future work.

In the U.S. teen mothers are more likely to give birth to low birth weight babies than non-teen mothers. There is also substantial evidence that smoking is a risk factor correlated with low birth weight. Low birth weight is a costly outcome in both the short and long term for parents, children, and society at large. This paper examines the causal link between teen age smoking behavior and low birth weight. We use a variety of empirical techniques including fixed effects and a matching estimator to identify the impact of smoking on babies of teen and non-teen mothers. We find that both OLS and matching estimator results yield large impacts of smoking on birth weight for teens and adults. However, when we control for unobservables through a fixed effects model, the impact of smoking on birth weight is diminished and there are relatively small differences in the impact of smoking on birth weight between teens and non-teens. MaryBeth Walker Department of Economics Andrew Young School of Policy Studies Georgia State University P.O. Box 3992 Atlanta, GA 30302-3992 mbwalker@gsu.edu Erdal Tekin Department of Economics Andrew Young School of Policy Studies Georgia State University P.O. Box 3992 Atlanta, GA 30302-3992 and NBER tekin@gsu.edu Sally Wallace Department of Economics Andrew Young School of Policy Studies Georgia State University P.O. Box 3992 Atlanta, GA 30302-3992 swallace@gsu.edu

This study reports theory-testing laboratory experiments on the effect of yardstick competition on corruption. On the incumbent side, yardstick competition acts as a corruption-taming mechanism if the incumbent politician is female. On the voter side, voters focus on the difference between the tax rate in their own jurisdiction and that in another. If the tax rate is deemed unfair compared to the one in another jurisdiction, voters re-elect less. The findings support the claim by Besley and Case (1995) that incumbent behavior and tax setting are tied together through the nexus of yardstick competition. This renders generalizability to these laboratory experiments and addresses some concerns raised by Levitt and List (2007).

The timing of the decision of local governments to adopt a local sales tax is explored in a duration model with time‐varying covariates. Our framework suggests a set of factors associated with the decision to adopt a local sales tax and we find empirical support for these factors. We also consider whether the adoption by one jurisdiction depends on the adoption by neighboring jurisdictions and find empirical support for interdependency of behavior.