Minimum Wage Policy and Poverty in the United States

Recent studies have found that increasing the minimum wage is a useful antipoverty tool. In this analysis, we examine the influence of minimum wages and other important variables on US family poverty rates using state data over the years 1984-98 by estimating both a fixed effect and random coefficients regression model. Taking into account labor market influences, demographic factors, and differences in poverty rates across states, we find that expanding the minimum wage coverage and increasing labor force participation both have larger effects on poverty rates as compared to equivalent changes in the level of the minimum wage. It is further implied from the empirical results that the most effective means of lifting families out of poverty are policies that are directed toward increasing minimum wage coverage, encouraging increased labor force participation, raising the minimum wage, and subsidizing higher education, respectively.     

The Dynamics of Tariff Retaliation Between the United States and Canada: Theory and Evidence

This paper presents theory and empirical evidence showing a retaliatory pattern in US–Canadian tariff interactions in the period 1868–1970, whereby the changes in the tariff level of each country are Granger-caused by the other. In the long run, the USA maintains the tariff changes that it initiates while the Canadian policy tends to back away from changes that it initiates. Furthermore, Canadian policy demonstrates a permanent change following US innovations, while in the long run the US tariff returns to its own internal equilibrium unaffected by innovations in the Canadian tariff.     

The transmission of inflation between the United States and Canada: An empirical analysis

This paper investigates the causal patterns, in the sense of Granger, which characterize the relationships between U.S. and Canadian inflation rates under different exchange rate regimes. Both bivariate and multivariate models are considered. The results suggest that the flexible exchange rate period of the 1950s exhibits no insulating effects with causal inferences similar to those from the fixed rate era of the 1960s. For the flexible rate period of the 1970s the bivariate model indicates that U.S. and Canadian inflation are independent but when the model is expanded to include money growth rates in each country, evidence of a direct, nonmonetary causal link from U.S. inflation to Canadian inflation is found.     

Do Incomes Policies Restrain Wage Inflation? Some Evidence From Australia,Canada, and the United States*

The purpose of this paper is to reassess the impact of incomes policies on wages in Australia, Canada and the United States. These countries differ in institutional arrangements as well as in the form and timing of incomes policies adopted. Three methods of assessing the effect of incomes policies have been used: the simulation approach, the intercept-shift dummy variable approach, and the rotation approach. The results indicate that incomes policies exhibited considerable diversity in the effectiveness among the three countries. The results also show a consistent restraining influence of labour market variables on wage inflation.     

Employment and child-care choices in Canada and the United States

In this paper we examine employment and child-care choices of two-parent families with young children in the United States and Canada, using a pooled data set based on recent national surveys in each country. We find that the employment and child-care choices of Canadian families are similar to those of U.S. families. Estimates of a model of employment and child-care choices indicate significant effects of child-care subsidies, child-care prices, and wage rates on employment and child-care choices. However, none of these factors helps to explain the differences in employment and child-care choices between the two countries.
Ce mémoire examine le choix de l'emploi et du soin des enfants dans les familles où il y deux parents aux Etats-Unis et au Canada en utilisant des données d'études récentes dans les deux pays. Il appert que les choix des familles canadiennes sont semblables à ceux des familles américaines. Les calibrations d'un modèle de ces choix montrent les effets significatifs des subventions au soin des enfants, du prix des soins des enfants, et des taux de salaires sur ces choix. Cependant, aucun de ces facteurs n'explique les diffrences dans les patterns de choix entre les deux pays.     

Parasitic-Industries Analysis and Arguments for a Living Wage for Women in the Early Twentieth-Century United States

This paper examines arguments by activists and economists surrounding attempts to establish minimum wages for women in the United States in the Progressive Era. In particular, the paper focuses on analyses based on Beatrice and SidneyWebbs' argument that industries paying less than a living wage were "parasitic" on the society, a net drain on macro-efficiency. This analysis, widely accepted among economists of the time, viewed women as particularly vulnerable workers facing labor markets that were institutionally constructed and predatory. Unequal gender roles, employer power, and the absence of collective bargaining could all result in wages that were socially unacceptable as well as economically nonoptimal. These debates offer insights for modern feminist wage theories, and for current living wage campaigns.     

The Great Depression in Canada and the United States: A Neoclassical Perspective

Canada suffered a major depression from 1929 to 1939. In terms of output it was similar to the Great Depression in the United States. However, total factor productivity (TFP) in Canada did not recover relative to trend, while in the United States TFP had recovered by 1937. We find that the neoclassical growth model, with TFP treated as exogenous, can account for over half of the decline in output relative to trend in Canada. In contrast, we find that conventional explanations for the Great Depression—monetary shocks, terms of trade shocks, and labor market and competition policies—do not work for Canada. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: E30, N12, N42.     

Flexible recession: the temporary staffing industry and mediated work in the United States

The evolution of the temporary staffing industry (TSI) in theUS is examined, with particular reference to the structuralfunctions of temporary work during the boom of the 1990s, the‘flexible’ recession of 2001, and the subsequent‘jobless’ recovery. It is argued that the TSI isincreasingly playing a systemic, macroregulatory role in theUS labour market, where it now accounts for a disproportionateshare of the costs of labour-market adjustment. The developmentpath of the TSI is closely intertwined with the wider restructuringof the US economy, where it has assumed a significant presenceas a purveyor of low-cost, flexibly mediated labour.     

Falling Wage Shares in Europe and the United States: How Important is Aggregation Bias?

This paper sheds light on the importance of aggregation bias in the analysis of wage shares developments over time and across countries. We focus on five European countries and the United States and show that the trend decline in the aggregate wage share observed in these countries over much of the 1980s and 1990s partly reflects changes in the sectoral composition of the economy. The application of a fixed-weight aggregation method changes the profile of the observed wage share in a significant way: in particular there is no longer sign of an overshooting of the wage share levels of the early-1970s. Error-correction wage equations based on the adjusted wage shares generally have a better regression fit and show long-run elasticities of real wages to unemployment that vary less across countries and are substantially lower than those obtained with observed shares.     

A Comparison of Wage Structures in the United States and Japan: Results from Cell Mean Regressions

This paper discusses three issues in estimating wage regressions by using the aggregated data from the Japanese Basic Survey of Wage Structure (BSWS). The issues include: (1) the order of taking averages and logs, (2) the usage of differently aggregated tables in the BSWS, (3) the treatment of the bonus variable for workers who have just joined a firm. To address them, I present regression results from the US Current Population Survey (CPS). I find that using differently aggregated tables sometimes affects the estimates significantly. I also present the results from wage regressions from the differently aggregated BSWS data.
JEL Classification Number: J30.     

Border Culture,the Boundary Between Canada and the United States of America,and the Advancement of Borderlands Theory

In the process of globalization it is border culture that ultimately sustains linkages, assures continuity and maintains prosperity between bounded states. In this essay we explore how border culture works, and how the conceptualization of border culture advances our understanding of how borders work. Our approach is to establish a place for the consideration of culture in the more extensive debates about border theory through a focus on the Canada-U.S. border, and how this border advances our knowledge of border culture and border theory.     

The Extraordinary Decline of Non-Metropolitan Areas in Canada and the United States

International Advances in Economic Research -     

Sources of aggregate labour productivity growth in Canada and the United States

Abstract.  In this paper we propose a decomposition technique to examine the sources of industrial contribution to aggregate labour productivity growth. We show that in terms of pure labour productivity growth, the manufacturing and service sectors contributed equally to the aggregate Canada‐U.S. labour productivity growth gap during the 1987–98 period. But, in terms of total industrial contributions, which also take into account the contributions from a change in relative size, the service sector was the largest contributor. We also find that high labour productivity growth industries did not attract resources from stagnant industries – a phenomenon consistent with Baumol's cost disease of stagnant industries. JEL Classification: O47, C43     

Potential Growth and Inflation: Estimates for Australia, the United States and Canada

Estimates of potential output growth for Australia, the United States and Canada are presented and analysed in this article. We define potential growth as that growth rate consistent with a steady (domestic component of the) inflation rate (SIRG). At around 4 per cent per annum, Australia's SIRG has been relatively stable for the past 30 years, which seems inconsistent with the view that wide‐ranging microeconomic reform in the 1990s raised growth potential. However, we show that the reduction in employment growth in Australia from the 1980s to the 1990s may account for the absence of a rise in potential growth. In Canada and the United States the SIRGs are closer to 3 per cent, and we explore the reasons why potential growth estimates are higher for Australia than for North America. We also discuss why Australia's growth averaged less than its potential in the 1980s and 1990s and the possible use of our estimates for monetary policy purposes.     

The Relationship Between Education and Adult Mortality in the United States

Prior research has uncovered a large and positive correlation between education and health. This paper examines whether education has a causal impact on health. I follow synthetic cohorts using successive U.S. censuses to estimate the impact of educational attainment on mortality rates. I use compulsory education laws from 1915 to 1939 as instruments for education. The results suggest that education has a causal impact on mortality, and that this effect is perhaps larger than has been previously estimated in the literature.     

科学慈善事业——美国科技发展的助推器

科学慈善事业在美国科教发展的历史上发挥了并继续发挥着独特的、无可替代的重要作用,虽然目前尚未被正确认识和评价。美国科学慈善基金主要来源于专业的基金会和慈善家个人,资助那些对政府来说风险过高、争议过大的科研项目,包括基础研究和转化研究,其主要捐助领域有生命健康和卫生医药以及环保、物理、海洋等。美国科学慈善资金的最大特点之一在于比联邦资助更自由。经过30年改革开放,我国已初步具备了发展科学慈善事业的物质基础和思想基础。通过回顾美国科学慈善事业的历史,整理和分析其发展现状及美国对此的相关政策及其社会影响和评价,期望对我国发展科学慈善事业有所借鉴。     

Trade creation and trade diversion in the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement

In this paper the changes in trade patterns introduced by the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement are examined. Variation in the extent of tariff liberalization under the agreement is used to identify the impact of tariff liberalization on the growth of trade both with member countries and non-member countries. Data at the commodity level are used, and the results indicate that the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement had substantial trade creation effects, with little evidence of trade diversion. JEL Classification: F13, F14
Création de commerce et diversion de commerce dans l'Accord de libre-échange Canada-U.S. Ce mémoire examine les changements dans les patterns de commerce international engendrés par l'Accord de libre-échange entre la Canada et les Etats-Unis. La variation dans l'intensité de libéralisation tarifaire selon les secteurs dans l'Accord est utilisée pour identifier l'impact de la libéralisation tarifaire sur la croissance du commerce à la fois entre les pays membres et avec les pays non-membres. A l'aide de données par produits, on montre que l'Accord a eu des effets substantiels de création de commerce mais qu'il n'y a pas lieu de croire qu'il y a eu beaucoup de diversion de commerce.     

Structural Breaks,Biased Estimations,and Forecast Errors in a GDP Series of Canada versus the United States

International Advances in Economic Research - A structural break was suspected for the Canadian gross domestic product (GDP) time series when the reporting system switched from the Standard...