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Handedness and Earnings

Author

Listed:
  • Christopher S. Ruebeck
  • Joseph E. Harrington, Jr
  • Robert Moffitt

Abstract

We examine whether handedness is related to performance in the labor market and, in particular, earnings. Though handedness is not found to be significantly related to earnings for the population as a whole, there is a significant wage effect for left-handed men with high levels of education. This positive wage effect is strongest among those who have lower than average earnings relative to those of similar high education. This effect is not found among women.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher S. Ruebeck & Joseph E. Harrington, Jr & Robert Moffitt, 1997. "Handedness and Earnings," Economics Working Paper Archive 533, The Johns Hopkins University,Department of Economics, revised Jun 2004.
    • Handle: RePEc:jhu:papers:533
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Willis, Robert J., 1987. "Wage determinants: A survey and reinterpretation of human capital earnings functions," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & R. Layard (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 10, pages 525-602, Elsevier.
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    7. Mwabu, Germano & Schultz, T Paul, 1996. "Education Returns across Quantiles of the Wage Function: Alternative Explanations for Returns to Education by Race in South Africa," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(2), pages 335-339, May.
    8. repec:eee:labchp:v:1:y:1986:i:c:p:525-602 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Hamermesh, Daniel S & Biddle, Jeff E, 1994. "Beauty and the Labor Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(5), pages 1174-1194, December.
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    12. Roger Koenker & Kevin F. Hallock, 2001. "Quantile Regression," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 143-156, Fall.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Economics of discrimination
      by ? in Urbanomics on 2010-06-05 06:51:00
    2. Optimism in the labour market
      by chris dillow in Stumbling and Mumbling on 2010-09-07 20:36:00

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    Cited by:

    1. Frijters, Paul & Johnston, David W. & Shah, Manisha & Shields, Michael A., 2008. "Early Child Development and Maternal Labor Force Participation: Using Handedness as an Instrument," IZA Discussion Papers 3537, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Paul Frijters & David Johnston & Manisha Shah & Michael Shields, 2013. "Intrahousehold Resource Allocation: Do Parents Reduce or Reinforce Child Ability Gaps?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(6), pages 2187-2208, December.
    3. David W. Johnston & Michael E. R. Nicholls & Manisha Shah & Michael A. Shields, 2013. "Handedness, health and cognitive development: evidence from children in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 176(4), pages 841-860, October.
    4. Fabio Mariani & Marion Mercier & Luca Pensieroso, 2023. "Left-handedness and economic development," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 79-123, March.
    5. Diekmann Andreas, 2011. "Are Most Published Research Findings False?," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 231(5-6), pages 628-635, October.
    6. Paul Gregg & Katharina Janke & Carol Propper, 2008. "Handedness and Child Development," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 08/198, The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol, UK.
    7. Johnston, David W. & Shah, Manisha & Shields, Michael A., 2007. "Handedness, Time Use and Early Childhood Development," IZA Discussion Papers 2752, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Joshua Goodman, 2014. "The Wages of Sinistrality: Handedness, Brain Structure, and Human Capital Accumulation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 28(4), pages 193-212, Fall.
    9. Thomas Buser, 2010. "Handedness predicts Social Preferences: Evidence connecting the Lab to the Field," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 10-119/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    10. Lukáš Lafférs & Bernhard Schmidpeter, 2021. "Early child development and parents' labor supply," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(2), pages 190-208, March.
    11. Kevin Denny & Vincent O’ Sullivan, 2007. "The Economic Consequences of Being Left-Handed: Some Sinister Results," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 42(2).
    12. Paul Frijters & David W. Johnston & Manisha Shah & Michael A. Shields, 2009. "To Work or Not to Work? Child Development and Maternal Labor Supply," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(3), pages 97-110, July.
    13. Guber, Raphael, 2019. "Making it right? Social norms, handwriting and human capital," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 44-57.
    14. Hessels, Jolanda & Rietveld, Cornelius A. & van der Zwan, Peter, 2014. "Unraveling two myths about entrepreneurs," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 122(3), pages 435-438.
    15. David Johnston & Michael Nicholls & Manisha Shah & Michael Shields, 2009. "Nature’s experiment? Handedness and early childhood development," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 46(2), pages 281-301, May.
    16. Dr Alex Bryson, 2009. "The Returns to Scarce Talent: Footedness and Player Remuneration in European Soccer," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 339, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    17. Marcello Sartarelli, 2016. "Handedness, Ability, Earnings and Risk. Evidence from the Lab," Working Papers. Serie AD 2016-04, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    18. Alex Bryson & Bernd Frick & Rob Simmons, 2013. "The Returns to Scarce Talent," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 14(6), pages 606-628, December.

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    JEL classification:

    • J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor

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