AEI Press
Pages: 302
•
Trim: 5¾ x 9
978-0-8447-5007-1 • Hardback • October 2016 • $124.00 • (£95.00)
978-0-8447-5009-5 • eBook • October 2016 • $117.50 • (£91.00)
Michael R. Strain is director of economic policy studies and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Preface ix
Michael R. Strain
I. Should We Be Concerned About the State of
Economic Mobility in the US? 1
How Much Social Mobility? More, but Not
Without Other Things 2
Miles Corak
What Should Be Done to Increase
Intergenerational Mobility in the US? 14
Bhash Mazumder
II. Is Productivity the Most Important Determinant
of Compensation? 29
Marginally True: The Connection of Pay to
Productivity 30
Dean Baker
Does Productivity Still Determine Worker
Compensation? Domestic and International
Evidence 42
Robert Z. Lawrence
III. How Can We Build Workers’ Skills? 63
Is “Skill” a Topic for Policy? 64
Peter Cappelli
Worker Skills and the US Labor Market:
What Role Should Policy Play? 77
Harry J. Holzer
IV. How Can We Make Work Pay? 95
Supporting Work, Inclusion, and Mass
Prosperity 96
Glenn Hubbard
What Do We Really Know About the
Employment Effects of the Minimum Wage? 106
Justin Wolfers
V. Do Public Policies That Reduce the Reward to
Work Significantly Diminish Labor Supply? 121
The US Safety Net and Work Incentives:
Is There a Problem? What Should Be Done? 122
Robert A. Moffitt
The Rise of Employment Taxation 138
Casey B. Mulligan
VI. What Are the Economic Effects of Lesser-Skilled
Immigration on Lesser-Skilled Native Workers? 151
Low-Skill Immigration 152
George J. Borjas
Less-Skilled Immigration: Economic Effects
and Policy Responses 166
Pia M. Orrenius and Madeline Zavodny
VII. Would Cutting the Corporate Tax Rate
Significantly Increase Jobs in the US? 179
Would Reducing the US Corporate Tax Rate
Increase Employment in the United States? 180
Martin Feldstein
Business Tax Reform and the Labor Market 187
Jason Furman and Betsey Stevenson
VIII. What Should We Do About Those Americans
Who Are Especially Difficult to Employ? 203
Making Work a Priority for Working-Age
People with Disabilities 204
Richard V. Burkhauser and Mary C. Daly
How to Help the Hard-to-Employ: A Focus on
Young Men, Especially the Ex-Incarcerated 221
Timothy M. Smeeding
IX. Should We Be Concerned About Income
Inequality? 247
Is the Concept of Inequality the Best Way of
Thinking About Our Economic Problems? 248
Tyler Cowen
Should We Be Concerned About Income
Inequality in the United States? 264
Melissa S. Kearney
About the Authors 281
This book consists of two essays addressing each of nine questions about the US labor market. The analysis is mainstream, and the differences are of emphasis rather than analytical approach. A brief look at one pair of essays will illustrate the approach. Glenn Hubbard examines the Earned Income Tax Credit, noting that its structure involves an implicitly increasing marginal tax on work and the eligibility restriction to families with children. He suggests several alternatives, including expanding eligibility to childless adults, or substituting a lump-sum subsidy to employers for the payments directly to workers. In the paired essay, Justin Wolfers examines what we know about minimum wage increases, noting that the median estimates of the effect of minimum wage increases on employment is around zero, that the real minimum wage has eroded significantly over the past 25 years, that the real minimum wage varies significantly across (and within) states, and that the US minimum is relatively low on a global scale. He suggests that the existing research does not provide a good basis for policy recommendations. All the essays are readily comprehensible to students in introductory level courses.... Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty.
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