Research

State of the States: Labor Markets

The Great Recession spread to every state, though employment fell more in some states than in others. The ongoing increases in the total number of jobs and ongoing declines in the official unemployment rate disguise a very slow recovery in prime-age (25-54) employment.

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Racial, Educational, and Religious Endogamy In the United States: A Comparative Historical Perspective

This paper draws broad comparisons between marriage patterns by race, by education, and by religion in the U.S. for the entire 20th century, using a variety of data sources. The comparative approach allows several general conclusions. First, racial endogamy has declined sharply over the 20th century, but race is still the most powerful division in the marriage market. Second, higher education has little effect on racial endogamy for blacks and whites.

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Teacher Education and the American Future

For teacher education, this is perhaps the best of times and the worst of times. It may be the best of times because many teacher educators have done so much hard work over the past two decades to develop more successful program models and because voters have just elected a president of the United States who has a strong commitment to the improvement of teaching. It may be the worst of times because there are so many forces in the environment that conspire to undermine these efforts. In this article, the author discusses the U.S.

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What to do about Inequality

If we’re serious about reducing inequality, we need to do more than raise taxes on the rich. We need to correct the market failures in labor and education that generate it.

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Educational Mobility Since the 1930s

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Unpublished

Social and Economic Returns to College Education in the United States

Education correlates strongly with most important social and economic outcomes such as economic success, health, family stability, and social connections. Theories of stratification and selection created doubts about whether education actually caused good things to happen. Because schools and colleges select who continues and who does not, it was easy to imagine that education added little of substance. Evidence now tips the balance away from bias and selection and in favor of substance. Investments in education pay off for individuals in many ways.