The Effects of Metropolitan Residence on the Off-Farm Earnings of Farm Families in the United States1

Abstract Previous research on the effects of urbanization on farming and farm families has focused on the consequences of urban expansion on farming practice rather than on the well-being of farm families. Proximity to urban areas has been found to alter the way farm families utilize the nonfarm labor market. In this study, the off-farm earnings of husbands and wives in farm families are compared across metropolitan (metro) and nonmetropolitan (nonmetro) areas using data from the March supplement to the 1989 Current Population Survey. Censored regression models (tobit) and decomposition are used to demonstrate the effects of nonfarm labor market differences on off-farm labor force participation and earnings. The analysis reveals that farm family members, as expected, have significantly higher rates of participation and earnings in metropolitan areas. But this analysis also reveals that increases in off-farm participation are likely to have a larger effect on total off-farm earnings in nonmetropolitan areas than returns to those already working off-farm. The potential for increases in off-farm earnings will be underestimated in nonmetro areas when changes in participation in the off-farm labor market are not taken into account.     

Socioeconomic Status and Age: The Effect of Income Sources and Portfolios on U.S. Adult Mortality

Despite the persistent inverse relationship between family income and mortality, no one has examined the effect of distinct income sources or income portfolios on mortality risk. We link the National Health Interview Survey to the Multiple Cause of Death file and use hazard models to examine income-related mortality across four age groups. Income from jobs, self-employment, interest, and dividends each predicts lower mortality at the younger, middle, and early old ages. Diverse income portfolios buffer against mortality risk at all ages, net of the amount of income received. These findings illuminate the various dimensions of income that shape U.S. mortality risks.     

Family migration and changes in women's earnings: A decomposition analysis

Married women who migrate with their families experience relative earnings losses after migration. In this study, we use data from the 1987 Wave of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to explicitly examine the relative importance of three sources of those losses: labor force participation, hours of labor supplied, and wages. We estimate earnings models with Heckman's sample selection method for each of four years following migration. The results and subsequent coefficient decomposition methods show that labor force exit and a reduction of labor supplied contribute the largest share to the earnings penalty attached to migration for married women. The participation effect, although reduced in size, is significant for three years following migration. The wages of employed married women who migrate appear to be unaffected in any year following migration.     

The Interpretation of Coefficients in Models with Qualitative Dependent Variables*

A substantial body of empirical accounting, finance, management, and marketing research utilizes single equation models with discrete dependent variables. Generally, the interpretation of the coefficients of the exogenous variables is limited to the sign and relative magnitude. This paper presents three methods of interpreting the coefficients in these models. The first method interprets the coefficients as marginal probabilities and the second method interprets the coefficients as elasticities of probability. The third method utilizes sensitivity analysis and examines the effect of hypothetical changes in exogenous variables on the probability of choice. This paper applies these methods to a published research study.