THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL CAPITAL ON THE EARNINGS OF PUERTO RICAN MIGRANTS

There is a paucity of studies examining the relationship between Puerto Ricans' social capital and their earnings. I utilized data from the Latin American Migration Project (collected in 1998 and 1999) to test five hypotheses derived from social capital theory to predict the hourly earnings of Puerto Rican migrants. My study illustrates that Puerto Rican migrants' social capital is positively related with their earnings. Interestingly, the social capital effects only pertain to Puerto Rican females. Additionally, Puerto Rican migrants do not benefit from ethnic solidarity in terms of increased wages. My analyses point toward social capital's ability to provide important labor market information to Puerto Rican females, which they appear to use to acquire jobs paying higher wages.
Social capital theory has been applied to many different phenomenon including banking, education, immigration, labor markets, and nation building ( Massey et al. 1987 ; Coleman 1988 ; Uzzi 1999 ; Fernandez, Castilla, and Moore 2000 ; Putnam 2000 ). Within the labor market, social capital has been found to be related with earnings, employment, formal employment, and job tenure ( Mier and Giloth 1986 ; Donato, Durand, and Massey 1992 ; Aguilera 1999; 2003 ; Philips and Massey 1999 ; Aguilera and Massey 2003 ). Within the immigration field, social capital has been linked with the migration process, labor market outcomes, and attainment of citizenship ( Massey et al. 1987 ; Baker 2000 ; Aguilera and Massey 2003 ; Fussell 2004 ). Unfortunately, Puerto Ricans have been unstudied within this massive literature about social capital. Additionally, gender differences in returns to social capital are only just beginning to be recognized and there is little agreement as to whether males or females benefit most from social capital. I studied the relationship between social capital and labor market outcomes of Puerto Rican migrants, paying special attention to differences in gender.     

WOMEN'S ACCESS TO PENSIONS AND THE STRUCTURE OF ELIGIBILITY RULES:

Because many older women lack access to private pensions and rely solely on social security income, they are significantly more likely than men to have incomes below or near poverty level. Liberal feminists attribute women's failure to attain pensions to their discontinuous work histories, which preclude them from meeting requirements for length and continuity of service. Such a conclusion ignores the invisible gender-based distinctions arising from the organizational logic of the workplace. The key issue is not why women fail to satisfy pension rules but rather why the rules are structured to penalize women for their reproductive labor. This historical case study of the pension negotiation process in two unions, the United Auto Workers and the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, indicates that the price women pay in the market for their domestic labor is a social construction that arises from specific decisions in the workplace. The analysis suggests that women can improve their status relative to men if they are able to reveal the hidden dimensions of gender in societal institutions but that they cannot attain full equality until the distinction between social production and reproduction is eliminated.     

THE EFFECT OF INSTITUTIONAL EXPENDITURES ON EMPLOYMENT OUTCOMES AND EARNINGS

In recent decades, public attention on colleges has risen in response to rising college expenditures and costs. This study uses the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 to investigate how spending impacts salaries and employment outcomes, controlling for selection. Our findings indicate that spending on instruction increases salaries, the probability of full‐time employment, and job match, particularly for more disadvantaged students, while there are smaller benefits of spending on student services for less disadvantaged students. Spending on research has large positive impacts on salary and the probability of full‐time employment, especially for disadvantaged students. (JEL I20, J24)     

THE IMPACT OF TELEVISION VIEWING ON MENTAL APTITUDE AND ACHIEVEMENT: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY

Previous studies of the effects of telecision viewing on mentalabilities have shown mixed results, but most suffered from oneor more of the following shortcomings: a small or other-wiseunrepresentative sample, a cross-sectional rather than longitudinalapproach, and a failure to consider intervening variables betweentelevision viewing and cognitive skills. This study was designedto overcome these deficiencies by using nationally representativedata from the National Health Examination Cycle 2 and Cycle3 Surveys. These surveys included 1,745 children who were studiesboth when 6 to 11 years old (between July, 1963, and December,1965) and about four years later when 12 to 17 years old (betweenMarch, 1966, and March, 1970). Simple analysis at just one time-pointreveals substantial relationships between the amount of televisionviewing and depressed IQ and Wide Range Achievement Test (Readingand Arithmetic) scores of adolescents. When longitudinal controlsare added, however, these relationships become statisticallyinsignificant and substantively unimportant. Although thesedata are 20 years old, they indicate no significant causal relationshipbetween the amount of television viewed and the mental aptitudeand achievement test scores of adolescents, thus supportingand extending Gaddy's (1986) recent longitudinal study of anational sample of youth.     

EARNINGS GROWTH ON THE JOB AND BETWEEN JOBS

This paper uses detailed data on the salary histories of individuals to show how an individual's observed earnings growth can be decomposed into growth occurring on the job and growth occurring between jobs. It is shown that the relative contributions of these two components to overall earnings growth differ across race and education groups. Further, as predicted by the specific training hypothesis, the more mobile individuals are found to have smaller on-the-job earnings gains in absolute terms than the less mobile.     

IMMIGRANT AND EMIGRANT EARNINGS: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY

This paper analyzes the relationship between earnings and the extent of assimilation, cohort quality change, and return migration experienced by the foreign-born population. The study uses the longitudinal data available in the Survey of Natural and Social Scientists and Engineers. The analysis reveals that there was a sizable decline in the skills of this population over the last two decades. In addition, the study shows that return migration is more likely among immigrants who did not perform well in the U.S. labor market.     

THE IMPACT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL AND HUMAN CAPITAL ON WAGES

Historically, economists have taken the position that psychological capital is either unobservable or immeasurable; thus, heretofore, little evidence has been available on the contribution of psychological capital to wages. Using data drawn from two different waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we offer evidence that psychological capital has both a direct effect—via self-esteem—and an indirect effect—through locus of control—on an individual's real wage. We find a person s wage is more sensitive to changes in self-esteem than to comparable alterations in human capital. Both relative wages and human capital contribute to self-esteem.     

THE IMPACT OF ENTITLEMENTS AND EQUITY ON COOPERATIVE BARGAINING: AN EXPERIMENT

In some bargaining situations—for example, collaborative policy making and compulsory arbitration—a third party imposes a backstop position that differs from the status quo. Axiomatic models of cooperative bargaining presume that the status quo in such cases will have no effect on the negotiated outcome, especially if it is Pareto inferior to the backstop. Recent literatures on equity and entitlement, however, suggest that the status quo may establish a focal point that acts as an “anchor” in current negotiations, affecting any ultimate agreement. In a two‐party, two‐attribute experiment, in which subjects jointly select from up to 200 options, we find evidence (1) that the status quo matters, perhaps because of “entitlement effects” and (2) that parties prefer egalitarian outcomes to the Nash bargain. (JEL C92, D74, H44, Q58)     

REPUTATION AND EARNINGS: THE ROLES OF QUALITY AND QUANTITY IN ACADEME

We examine the determinants of professional reputation. Does quantity of exposures raise reputation independent of quality? Does quality of the most important exposure have extra effects on reputation? In a very large sample of academic economists, there is little evidence that a scholar's most influential work provides any extra enhancement of reputation. Quality rankings matter more than absolute quality. Quantity has a zero or even negative effect on proxies for reputation. Data on salaries, however, show positive effects of quantity independent of quality. We test explanations for the differences between the determinants of reputation and salary. (JEL L14, J31)     

ELECTORAL CYCLES AND THE EARNINGS OF FEDERAL BUREAUCRATS

This paper analyzes the relationship between the timing of federal elections and the pay raises received by civilian employees of the federal government. The theoretical framework discusses how electoral wage cycles are generated as a result of optimizing behavior on the part of voters, bureaucrats, and the government. The empirical analysis uses a time series of wage rates for the twenty-eight largest federal agencies over the period 1961–1978. The study indicates that pay hikes during the Presidential election year are significantly greater (about 2 to 3 percent higher) than bureaucratic pay raises in other years.     

PART-TIME STATUS AND HOURLY EARNINGS OF BLACK AND WHITE MEN

Labor economists now believe that wages and hours are jointly determined, creating a premium in the hourly pay of full-time workers. The size and nature of this premium, however, varies considerably by race. It is shown here that full-time work carries a far lower premium for black workers than for white workers and has very different implications for blacks' occupational status.     

THE IMPACT OF DECEPTION AND SUSPICION ON DIFFERENT HAND MOVEMENTS

The present experiment examined the relationship between different types of discourse linked hand movements and deception. Hand gestures were experimentally studied during truth telling and deception, and in situations with either weak or strong suspicion. Participants (128 Italian psychology students) were interviewed twice about the possession of an object. In one interview they were asked to lie and in the other asked to tell the truth (veracity factor). In both conditions, suspicion was raised after the interview: Participants were accused of lying by the interviewer and asked to repeat their account a second time (suspicion factor). Results indicate that lying was associated with a decrease in deictic gestures, and an increase in metaphoric gestures (main effect of veracity). Also a decrease in self-adaptor gestures was found. Strong suspicion was associated with an increase in metaphoric, rhythmic, and deictic gestures and a decrease in self-adaptor, emblematic, and cohesive gestures (main effect of suspicion). No interaction effect was found. Letizia Caso is affiliated with the Department of Human Sciences, University of Bergamo, Sede di S. Agostino, Piazzale della Fara 2, Bergamo, Italy. Fridanna Maricchiolo and Marino Bonaiuto are affiliated with the Department of Socialization and Developmental Psychology, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, via dei Marsi, 78, Rome, Italy. Aldert Vrij and Samantha Mann are affiliated with the Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, King Henry Building, Portsmouth, United Kingdom. Address correspondence to Letizia Caso Department of Human Sciences, University of Bergamo, Sede di S. Agostino, piazzale della Fara 2, Bergamo, Italy, e-mail: letizia.caso@uniroma1.it.     

GRADUATE EDUCATION AND PRIVATE RATES OF RETURN: A REVIEW OF THEORY AND EMPIRICISM

In this paper twelve recent studies regarding private rates of return for graduate education are reviewed and evaluated. Possible sources of error due to data base, methodology and interpretation of results are examined and compared. After this has been done, the authors calculate returns to graduate education with spatial distribution problems and job security incorporated in the model. The article concludes that the typical rate of return method has been pushed about as far as it can go and now is the time for the economic profession to develop more meaningful techniques which will allow us to come to grips with the policy issues regarding the level of support for education.     

THE IMPACT OF GENDER ON VOLUNTARY AND INVOLUNTARY EXECUTIVE DEPARTURE

We examine the frequency and conditions of executive departure from S&P 1500 firms. Based upon published news reports, we find that female executives are more likely than male executives to depart their positions voluntarily and involuntarily in the presence of controls for firm performance, firm governance, and human capital. We also find that women are less likely than men to depart voluntarily as firm size increases or board size decreases but more likely to be dismissed as the board becomes more male dominated. (JEL G30, G32, G34, J44)     

IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH: THE IMPACT OF ILLNESS ON COUPLES' RELATIONSHIPS

When illness or disability strikes a couple's relationship, a number of significant structural and emotional skews are likely. A normative, preventive framework that addresses the special strains on couples can counteract dysfunctional relationship patterns and enhance opportunities for increased intimacy. This paper addresses key issues regarding intimacy and communication and then identifies key skews and treatment priorities to help couples rebalance their relationship. These include skews regarding (a) whose problem it is, (b) boundary issues, (c) patient-caregiver roles, (d) togetherness/separateness, (e) psychosocial recovery, (f) cognitive impairment, (g) gender, (h) sexuality, (i) belief systems, and (j) life cycle. Particular dilemmas for gay and lesbian relationships are noted. Dealing with these skews can promote a couple's resilience in the face of loss     

WELFARE IMPACT OF A BAN ON CHILD LABOR

This article presents a new rationale for imposing restrictions on child labor. In a standard overlapping generation model where parental altruism results in transfers that children allocate to consumption and education, the Nash‐Cournot equilibrium results in suboptimal levels of parental transfers and does not maximize the average level of utility of currently living agents. A ban on child labor decreases children's income and generates an increase in parental transfers bringing their levels closer to the optimum, raising children's welfare as well as average welfare in the short run and in the long run. Moreover, the inability to work allows children to allocate more time to education, and it leads to an increase in human capital. Besides, to increase transfers, parents decrease savings and hence physical capital accumulation. When prices are flexible, these effects diminish the positive welfare impact of the ban on child labor. (JEL D91, E21)     

THE EFFECTS OF ASSET FORFEITURE ON POLICING: A PANEL APPROACH

Asset forfeiture has proven highly controversial in the United States since its expansion in 1984. Most contentious is the widespread policy that allows police agencies to keep the assets seized, which both proponents and critics assert changes police behavior. From newly developed panel data sets, we find some statistical support for the proposition that police agencies change the intensity and pattern of policing in response to forfeiture. However, in economic terms these effects are very weak and do not support the proposition that forfeiture provides vital funds and incentives for crime policing. (JEL H39, H71, K42)     

THE EFFECT OF SELECTIVE INS MONITORING STRATEGIES ON THE INDUSTRIAL EMPLOYMENT CHOICE AND EARNINGS OF RECENT IMMIGRANTS

One effect of 1986's immigration reform was to make INS inspection of firms more costly relative to other industries. In response, we suggest, the INS refocused its enforcement efforts toward industries with a higher concentration of illegals per establishment, especially manufacturing. We test this hypotheses and model the effects of a selective monitoring strategy on the employment choice and wages of illegal workers. We find evidence of selective monitoring by the INS and that this policy has redistributed illegal workers from closely to weakly monitored industries. Specifically, we find a shift from the higher-paying manufacturing sector to the agricultural.     

THE IMPACT OF TELEVISED SPEECHES AND FOREIGN TRAVEL ON PRESIDENTIAL APPROVAL

Considerable attention has been devoted in recent years to theuse of political drama by the president, with the most discretionaryforms of drama—speeches and foreign travel—receivingmuch scrutiny. In fact, there has arisen a conventional wisdomwhich asserts that televised speeches and foreign travel bythe president (1) have increased over time, (2) exert a uniformlypositive impact on public evaluations of the president's performance,and (3) can therefore be used as a strategy for influencingthe president's approval ratings, a vital resource for the modernpresident. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate this conventionalwisdom and thus assess the value of televised speeches and foreigntravel as influences on presidential approval. The paper firstdefines political drama and casts the conventional wisdom inthe form of three propositions. It next develops a researchstrategy for evaluating these propositions in an appropriatemanner. Finally, the paper tests the propositions. The resultscast considerable doubt on the conventional wisdom and leadto the conclusion that the use of political drama is not anall-purpose strategy guaranteed to halt declines or replenishsizable losses of presidential approval.