Farm Labor in the United States

The mainstream blames the global savings glut for causing the 2008 global financial crisis and proposes currency realignment to restore balance. However, this view fails to provide solid theoretical and empirical support to the claim that net inflows of foreign savings reduced U.S. long-term real interest rates and inflated asset prices. It also ignores the role of the global financial system in shaping the development strategy and macroeconomic imbalances in emerging Asian economies. Furthermore, forcing currency revaluation in China and other surplus countries may risk reducing global demand instead of shifting demand from the United States to surplus countries. The paper argues that an overhaul of the defunct global financial system lies at the root of global rebalancing; whereas in the short run, the United States should actively pursue demand-enhancing policies to strengthen global economic recovery.     

Labor Force Participation and Educational Attainment in the United States

The objectives of this paper are twofold. Aggregate labor force participation rates in the United States are described focusing on educational attainment. A model is developed for decomposing aggregate labor force participation rates for men and women from 1994 to 2014 from a unique perspective by focusing on changes in educational attainment and on changes in the labor force behavior. The findings presented here indicate that men’s aggregate labor force participation rates declined during the 20-year period at all levels of educational attainment, due primarily to changes in population shares. A different picture emerges regarding women. For women with high school or some college or associate degree, it was changes in labor force behavior that dominated changing aggregate labor force participation rates. For women with the lowest and highest levels of educational attainment, less than high school or at least a baccalaureate degree, it was changes in their population shares that drove changes in aggregate labor force participation rates.     

Evolution of Female Labor Force Participation in the United States: 1967 to 2003

This paper describes the changes in the employment choices of prime working-age women from 1967 to 2003. A neoclassical labor market participation model is presented and applied to data from the March Current Population Surveys (CPS). The paper provides a new insight: It highlights the different patterns of labor force participation by family-status categories. Also, the paper introduces the average annual unemployment rate at the state level as an explanatory variable to capture the demand-side constraint of the labor market. The results of the paper support the finding that since 1990, the increase in the participation of women in the labor force has slowed from previous decades.An earlier draft of this paper was presented at the 59th International Atlantic Economic Conference, London, England, March 9–13, 2005.     

Estimating the HOV Model with Technology Differences Using Disaggregated Labor Skills for the United States and the United Kingdom

The paper develops a version of the Heckscher–Ohlin–Vanek (HOV) theorem of parametric technological differences for application to US and UK data on the factor contents of trade, output, and consumption. A matched set of input–output tables, consumption and trade vectors, and labor occupations is constructed. The data allow estimation of factor-specific and industry-specific productivity differences for incorporation into a second-stage econometric approach to assessing the HOV model. The data support a general model with technical differences and measurement error. The implied ratio of US-to-UK expenditure levels exceeds the ratio based on published GNP data.     

Labor Market Dynamics and the Business Cycle: Structural Evidence for the United States*

We use a 12‐dimensional VAR to examine the aggregate effects of two structural technology shocks and two policy shocks. For each shock, we examine the dynamic effects on the labor market, the importance of the shock for labor market volatility, and the comovement between labor market variables and other key aggregate variables in response to the shock. We document that labor market indicators display “hump‐shaped” responses to the identified shocks. Technology shocks and monetary policy shocks are important for labor market volatility but the ranking of their importance is sensitive to the VAR specification. The conditional correlations at business cycle frequencies are similar in response to the four shocks, apart from the correlations between hours worked, labor productivity and real wages. To account for the unconditional correlations between these variables, a mixture of shocks is required.     

经济学科在美国

本文将介绍经济学科在美国的情况.由于美国代表了目前全世界现代经济学教学和研究的前沿,了解经济学科在美国的情况,对于如何参与国际经济学界的学术活动是很有必要的.我介绍以下四个方面的情况:第一,美国大学中经济学科的设置;第二,美国大学的经济学教育;第三,美国的经济学博士教育模式在欧洲;第四,中国学生申请留学美国攻读经济学学位时应注意的事项.     

后危机时代美国非传统货币政策的退出机制

2008年次贷危机爆发后,各国为应对迅速恶化的经济和金融状况,纷纷开始实行非传统的货币政策来刺激经济,向金融市场的私人部门和金融机构注入大量的流动性。在美国经济缓慢复苏的同时,大量流动性引发了人们对通货膨胀的担忧。在这种情况下研究非传统货币政策是否应该退出、如何退出,就对经济发展起到至关重要的作用,成为美联储的当务之急。     

重建联合劳动论要

联合劳动是马克思主义的重要思想,是社会主义政治经济学的重要范畴,是人类社会发展的重要选择,也是劳动者解放的基础和前提.然而,自中国改革开放以来,联合劳动被漠视,引起了新的社会病态.贯彻科学发展观,构建社会主义和谐社会,有必要重新解读马克思主义联合劳动理论,加强引导与组织,重建社会主义联合劳动.     

美国反垄断分析方法研究

美国不同时期的经济竞争理论及观点存在分歧。其先后颁布施行的《谢尔曼法》、《克莱顿法》及《美国联邦贸易委员会法》确立了反垄断分析的基本标准、方法和程序,并先后通过判例,明确了＂本身违法原则＂、＂合理原则＂,成立了联邦贸易委员会;同时,对于＂相关产品市场＂及＂同一地理市场＂的界定确定了标准和方法。至此,从方法论角度美国建立了其反垄断分析的基本框架。     

美国科技项目管理信息系统

美国政府的科技项目管理信息系统已得到普遍应用,项目流程管理完全实现了信息化,大大提高了项目管理效率。美国科技项目管理信息系统的主要特点是:科技项目被纳入联邦政府统一管理系统,项目管理受到依法协调和监管,项目信息公开透明便于公众监督。美国3个比较有代表性的科技项目管理信息系统为联邦政府的统一项目管理平台Grants.gov、国立卫生研究院的eRA系统以及国家科学基金会的FastLane系统。可以说,美国的科技项目管理信息系统已比较成熟,但美国仍在不断改进,以更好地提高项目管理效率。     

Graduate Economics Programs in the United States

Sterrett and Barr comment on the results of a survey of graduate programs in economics in the United States and on the marked increase in the number of masters degrees granted by the responding institutions.     

Location and happiness in the United States

The effect of living in a less urban area on the probability of being happy is estimated. It is shown that less urban areas are associated with higher levels of happiness. Further, it is shown that respondents in the north region are less happy. Data from the National Opinion Research Center’s “General Social Survey” are used.     

Age Discrimination Legislation in the United States

Legislation prohibiting age discrimination in the United States dates back to the 1960s, when along with the Equal Pay Act and the Civil Rights Act barring discrimination against women and minorities, Congress passed the 1967 Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Questions regarding the rationale for and effectiveness of age discrimination legislation are likely to become increasingly important in light of a rapidly aging population in the United States (and other industrialized countries). This article provides a summary, critical review, and synthesis of what we know about age discrimination legislation. It first traces out the legislative history and the evolving case law and discusses implementation of the law. It then reviews the existing research on age discrimination legislation—research that addresses the rationale for the legislation, its effectiveness, and criticisms. (JEL J 1, J 7, L 3)     

Higher Education in the United States: Laissez-Faire,Differentiation, and Research

The U.S. higher education system stands out in three dimensions. First, it has the highest number of leading research universities. Second, it displays significant differentiation: multiple types of institutions offer services that differ in cost, prestige, etc. Third, it has a laissez-faire/free-market orientation: private and public entities are free to open schools and compete; essentially all schools enjoy substantial autonomy. This paper makes the case that these features are systematically related. The development of the American higher education market—which allowed market forces to operate and lacked centralized planning—contributed to the emergence of differentiation and a set of leading research universities.     

Incentive regulation in the United Kingdom and the United States: Some lessons

Summary and Conclusions This paper has reviewed the approach to incentive regulation in the United Kingdom and the United States. The United Kingdom approach has typically relied on pure PCR, incorporating much sharper incentives for efficiency and lower transactions costs, but it makes the company more of a hostage to the regulator. The United States approach, which is grounded or even mired in the legal system, gives up efficiency incentives in an attempt to avoid making the companies the hostages of regulatory reneging.²⁷ The papers in this Issue illustrate the broad scope of incentive regulation, from the purer forms of PCR to a number of variations and mixtures of PCR with other forms of regulation. The interesting theoretic results and the importance of achieving practical solutions in incentive regulation underscore the importance of the problems and approaches raised in this Issue.