AN NBER PUBLICATION
ISSUE: No. 7, July 2003
The Digest
A free monthly publication featuring non-technical summaries of research on topics of broad public interest
Despite very different programs, cultural histories, labor-market institutions, and other social characteristics, the results consistently show that program incentives accord strongly with retirement decisions in all 12 countries.
Give male workers in industrial nations enough pension money to retire early, and they do. Delay the age at which they are eligible for retirement under national social security programs, and many older employees will keep working. Those are...
Article
On the closely monitored retest, the classrooms that the algorithm identified as likely cases of cheating had score declines of more than a full grade equivalent.
In the last decade, the states and the federal government have begun using student scores on assessment tests to evaluate public school performance. For teachers and administrators, the stakes are high. In California, teachers in schools with large increases in test scores may be eligible for merit pay...
Article
For men, unions tend to have an equalizing effect on wages across skill groups. However, unions do not reduce wage inequality for women. These trends were remarkably similar in all three countries over the past twenty years.
Union membership rates have been declining in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Since the mid-1950s, for example, union membership in the United States has slipped to under 15 percent. During the same period, wage inequality has...
Article
...home-owning families are 35 percent more likely to own businesses if they live in states with high or unlimited homestead exemptions rather than low homestead exemptions. Families who rent are 29 percent more likely to own businesses if they live in high exemption states.
Exemption levels, which determine the amount of assets a person declaring bankruptcy may retain, are the only aspect of U.S. bankruptcy law that varies from state to state. In Personal Bankruptcy...