IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ucn/oapubs/10197-324.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Changes in male labor supply and wages

Author

Listed:
  • Paul J. Devereux

Abstract

In the 1980s, both wages and labor supply of poorly educated men fell substantially relative to those of educated men. Some observers have interpreted this positive association between changes in wages and labor supply as reflecting movement along stable labor supply curves. The author casts doubt on this interpretation by showing that the wage elasticity necessary to account, by itself, for the observed labor supply decline would greatly exceed elasticity levels typically found in prior studies. Analysis of Census data shows little relationship between changes in relative wages at the state level and changes in male labor supply. Also, panel data analysis shows no strong correlation between long-run changes in individual hours and wages. The small implied labor supply elasticities suggest that very little of the labor supply changes of men during the 1980s can be related to changes in relative wages.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul J. Devereux, 2003. "Changes in male labor supply and wages," Open Access publications 10197/324, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucn:oapubs:10197/324
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10197/324
    File Function: Open Access version, 2003
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard Blundell & Alan Duncan & Costas Meghir, 1998. "Estimating Labor Supply Responses Using Tax Reforms," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 66(4), pages 827-862, July.
    2. Deaton, Angus, 1985. "Panel data from time series of cross-sections," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1-2), pages 109-126.
    3. Chinhui Juhn, 1992. "Decline of Male Labor Market Participation: The Role of Declining Market Opportunities," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(1), pages 79-121.
    4. Richard B. Freeman, 1996. "Why Do So Many Young American Men Commit Crimes and What Might We Do about It?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 25-42, Winter.
    5. Levy, Frank & Murnane, Richard J, 1992. "U.S. Earnings Levels and Earnings Inequality: A Review of Recent Trends and Proposed Explanations," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(3), pages 1333-1381, September.
    6. Browning, Martin & Deaton, Angus & Irish, Margaret, 1985. "A Profitable Approach to Labor Supply and Commodity Demands over the Life-Cycle," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 53(3), pages 503-543, May.
    7. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    8. Welch, Finis, 1997. "Wages and Participation," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages 77-103, January.
    9. Bound, John & Johnson, George, 1992. "Changes in the Structure of Wages in the 1980's: An Evaluation of Alternative Explanations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(3), pages 371-392, June.
    10. John Pencavel, 1997. "Changes in Male Work Behavior and Wages," Working Papers 97046, Stanford University, Department of Economics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Olivier Bargain & Andreas Peichl, 2013. "Steady-State Labor Supply Elasticities: An International Comparison," AMSE Working Papers 1322, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    2. Jorgen Hansen & Xingfei Liu, 2015. "Estimating labour supply responses and welfare participation: Using a natural experiment to validate a structural labour supply model," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(5), pages 1831-1854, December.
    3. Olivier Bargain & Karina Doorley, 2016. "The Effect of Social Benefits on Youth Employment: Combining RD and a Behavioral Model," Post-Print hal-03894917, HAL.
    4. Olivier Donni & Eleonora Matteazzi, 2012. "On the Importance of Household Production in Collective Models: Evidence from U.S. Data," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 105-106, pages 99-125.
    5. Bargain, Olivier & Peichl, Andreas, 2013. "Steady-state labor supply elasticities: A survey," ZEW Discussion Papers 13-084, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    6. Bargain, Olivier & Jara, H. Xavier & Rivera, David, 2024. "Tax disincentives to formal employment in Latin America," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 125368, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Olivier Bargain & Kristian Orsini & Andreas Peichl, 2012. "Comparing Labor Supply Elasticities in Europe and the US: New Results," Working Papers halshs-00805736, HAL.
    8. Abe, Yukiko & Tamada, Keiko, 2010. "Regional patterns of employment changes of less-educated men in Japan: 1990-2007," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 69-79, March.
    9. Michiel Evers & Ruud de Mooij & Daniel van Vuuren, 2005. "What explains the variation in estimates of labour supply elasticities?," CPB Discussion Paper 51, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    10. Olivier Bargain & Kristian Orsini & Andreas Peichl, 2014. "Comparing Labor Supply Elasticities in Europe and the United States: New Results," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 49(3), pages 723-838.
    11. Olivier Bargain & Andreas Peichl, 2016. "Own-wage labor supply elasticities: variation across time and estimation methods," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-31, December.
    12. Tanja Fendel, 2020. "How Elastic is the Labour Supply of Female Migrants Relative to the Labour Supply of Female Natives?," De Economist, Springer, vol. 168(4), pages 475-517, December.
    13. Daniel Felsenstein & Joseph Persky, 2011. "Gender and Job Chains in Local Economic Development," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 25(2), pages 172-181, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lusi Liao & Sasiwimon Warunsiri Paweenawat, 2021. "The inversion of married women's labour supply and wage: Evidence from Thailand," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 35(1), pages 82-98, May.
    2. Paul J. Devereux, 2004. "Changes in Relative Wages and Family Labor Supply," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 39(3).
    3. Lusi Liao & Sasiwimon Warunsiri Paweenawat, 2018. "Labour Supply of Married Women in Thailand: 1985–2016," PIER Discussion Papers 88, Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research.
    4. Orazio Attanasio & Peter Levell & Hamish Low & Virginia Sánchez-Marcos, 2015. "Aggregating Elasticities: Intensive and Extensive Margins of Female Labour Supply," NBER Working Papers 21315, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2007. "Changes in the Labor Supply Behavior of Married Women: 1980–2000," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 25(3), pages 393-438.
    6. Lawrence F Katz, 1998. "Reflections on US Labour Market Performance," RBA Annual Conference Volume (Discontinued), in: Guy Debelle & Jeff Borland (ed.),Unemployment and the Australian Labour Market, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    7. Diane J. Macunovich, 1999. "The fortunes of one's birth: Relative cohort size and the youth labor market in the United States," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 12(2), pages 215-272.
    8. Mora, Jhon James & Muro, Juan, 2014. "Consistent estimation in pseudo panels in the presence of selection bias," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 8, pages 1-25.
    9. Gould, Eric D. & Paserman, M. Daniele, 2003. "Waiting for Mr. Right: rising inequality and declining marriage rates," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 257-281, March.
    10. Robert A. Moffitt, 2012. "The Reveral of the Employment-Population Ratio in the 2000s: Facts and Explanations," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 43(2 (Fall)), pages 201-264.
    11. Robert A. Moffitt, 2012. "The U.S. Employment-Population Reversal in the 2000s: Facts and Explanations," NBER Working Papers 18520, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. David Aristei & Federico Perali & Luca Pieroni, 2008. "Cohort, age and time effects in alcohol consumption by Italian households: a double-hurdle approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 29-61, August.
    13. Devereux, Paul J., 2007. "Improved Errors-in-Variables Estimators for Grouped Data," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 25, pages 278-287, July.
    14. Blundell, Richard & Macurdy, Thomas, 1999. "Labor supply: A review of alternative approaches," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 27, pages 1559-1695, Elsevier.
    15. Robert Haveman & Andrew Bershadker, "undated". "Self-reliance and Poverty, Net Earnings Capacity versus: Income for Measuring Poverty," Economics Public Policy Brief Archive ppb_46, Levy Economics Institute.
    16. Keane, Michael P. & Todd, Petra E. & Wolpin, Kenneth I., 2011. "The Structural Estimation of Behavioral Models: Discrete Choice Dynamic Programming Methods and Applications," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 4, pages 331-461, Elsevier.
    17. Giertz, Seth H. & Ramezani, Rasoul, 2018. "Taxes, Wage Capitalization and the Ability of States to Redistribute Income," GLO Discussion Paper Series 291, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    18. L. Buron & R. Haveman & O. O'Donnell, "undated". "Recent trends in U.S. male work and wage patterns: An overview," Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Papers 1060-95, University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty.
    19. Castex, Gonzalo & Dechter, Evgenia, 2018. "A model of labor supply, fixed costs and work schedules," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 32-48.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ucn:oapubs:10197/324. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Nicolas Clifton (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/educdie.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.