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Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
Resulting in 10 citations.
1. Aliprantis, Dionissi
Human Capital in the Inner City
Working Paper 13-02, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, February 2013.
Also: http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/workpaper/2013/wp1302.pdf
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
Keyword(s): Behavior, Violent; Education; Human Capital; Labor Market Outcomes; Neighborhood Effects; Propensity Scores; Racial Differences

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Black males in the United States are exposed to tremendous violence at young ages: In the NLSY97 26 percent report seeing someone shot by age 12, and 43 percent by age 18. This paper studies how this exposure to violence and its associated social isolation affect education and labor market outcomes. I use Elijah Anderson’s ethnographic research on the “code of the street” to guide the specification of a model of human capital accumulation that includes street capital, the skills and knowledge useful for providing personal security in neighborhoods where it is not provided by state institutions. The model is estimated assuming either selection on observables or dynamic selection with permanent unobserved heterogeneity. Counterfactuals from these estimated models indicate that exposure to violence has large effects, decreasing the high school graduation rate between 6.1 and 10.5 percentage points (20 and 35 percent of the high school dropout rate) and hours worked between 3.0 and 4.0 hours per week (0.15 and 0.19 σ).
Bibliography Citation
Aliprantis, Dionissi. "Human Capital in the Inner City." Working Paper 13-02, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, February 2013.
2. Bacolod, Marigee Ponla
Blum, Bernardo S.
Strange, William C.
Elements of Skill: Traits, Intelligences, and Agglomeration
Working Paper, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, April 2009.
Also: http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/conference/2009/jrs/Strange.pdf
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB); Locus of Control (see Rotter Scale); Pearlin Mastery Scale; Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) (see Self-Esteem); Rotter Scale (see Locus of Control); Self-Esteem; Skilled Workers; Skills

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

There are many fundamental issues in regional and urban economics that hinge on worker skills. This paper builds on psychological approaches to learning to characterize the role of education and agglomeration in the skill development process. While the standard approach of equating skill to worker education can be useful, there are important aspects of skill that are missed. Using a measure of skill derived from hedonic attribution, the paper explores the geographic distribution of worker traits, intelligences, and skills and considers the role of urbanization and education in the skill development process.
Bibliography Citation
Bacolod, Marigee Ponla, Bernardo S. Blum and William C. Strange. "Elements of Skill: Traits, Intelligences, and Agglomeration." Working Paper, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, April 2009.
3. Caucutt, Elizabeth M.
Lochner, Lance John
Borrowing Constraints on Families with Young Children
Presented: Cleveland, OH, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Research Department Conference on Innovation in Education, November 17-18, 2005.
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
Keyword(s): Children, Academic Development; Debt/Borrowing; Family Background and Culture; Family Income; Family Structure; Mothers, Race; Parental Investments; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Test Scores/Test theory/IRT

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This study investigates the role of family income and borrowing constraints in determining early invest-ments in children and youth achievement scores. As figure 3 shows, youths raised in families in the bottom third of the income distribution are much less likely to be among the highest PIAT test scorers (at ages 13–14) than are those in middle- and high-income groups.3 While more than 50 percent of all 13- to 14-year-olds in the top tercile of the income distribution are in the top third of the test-score distribution, fewer than 20 percent of those in the bottom income tercile managed such scores. These findings raise the natural question: To what extent do family borrowing constraints during early childhood and adolescence influence early investments in chil-dren, cognitive achievement levels, and ultimately college attendance and completion? Summary from Slides of the oral presentation at the conference. [Editor]

Schooling Outcomes and Family Income

  • Large differences in schooling outcomes by family income
    • Raw difference in college enrollment between highest and lowest income terciles is greater than 30%
    • After controlling for achievement test scores during adolescence, the gap declines considerably (especially among most able)
    • Most of the gap is eliminated when further controlling for family background
    Findings suggest that short-run credit constraints at college-going ages are not an important determinant of college attendance and completion decisions (Carneiro and Heckman, 2002)

    Conclusions

  • We distinguish between intragenerational and intergenerational borrowing constraints
  • We implement three tests for intragenerational constraints to determine whether the timing of family income affects child achievement for children and adolescents
  • All three tests suggest that income earned earlier leads to better child outcomes, consistent with an inability of s ome parents to borrow against future earnings
  • Potential remedies:
    • Improved borrowing opportunities for lower income families with young children
    • Expanded public subsidies for early investments in children (e.g. preschool) targeted to lower income families
  • Bibliography Citation
    Caucutt, Elizabeth M. and Lance John Lochner. "Borrowing Constraints on Families with Young Children." Presented: Cleveland, OH, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Research Department Conference on Innovation in Education, November 17-18, 2005..
    4. Hernandez Martinez, Victor
    Holter, Hans Aasnes
    Pinheiro, Roberto
    The Hedgehog's Curse: Knowledge Specialization and Displacement Loss
    Working Paper 22-31, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, November 2022.
    Also: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4273012
    Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY97
    Publisher: Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
    Keyword(s): Cross-national Analysis; Displaced Workers; Earnings; Human Capital; Norway, Norwegian

    Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

    This paper studies the impact of knowledge specialization on earnings losses following displacement. We develop a novel measure of the specialization of human capital, based on how concentrated the knowledge used in an occupation is. Combining our measure with individual labor histories from the NLSY 79-97 and Norway's LEED, we show that workers with more specialized human capital suffer larger earnings losses following exogenous displacement. A one standard deviation increase in pre-displacement knowledge specialization increases the earnings losses post-displacement by 3 to 4 pp per year in the US, and by 1.5 to 2 pp per year in Norway. In the US, the negative effect of higher pre-displacement knowledge specialization on post-displacement earnings is driven by the negative impact of knowledge specialization on well-paid outside opportunities. By contrast, this association between outside opportunities and knowledge specialization plays no role in post-displacement earnings losses in Norway, where the negative effect of specialization is in part explained by its association with the routine content and the offshoring probability of the occupation.
    Bibliography Citation
    Hernandez Martinez, Victor, Hans Aasnes Holter and Roberto Pinheiro. "The Hedgehog's Curse: Knowledge Specialization and Displacement Loss." Working Paper 22-31, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, November 2022.
    5. James, Jonathan
    The Surprising Impact of High School Math on Job Market Outcomes
    Economic Commentary, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, November 2013.
    Also: http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/commentary/2013/2013-14.cfm
    Cohort(s): NLSY97
    Publisher: Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
    Keyword(s): High School Curriculum; Labor Force Participation; Labor Market Outcomes; Wages

    Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

    The economic returns to education are well documented. It is also well-known that college graduates with certain majors will earn more than others and find it easier to land a job. But surprisingly, the courses students take in high school also make a difference, when the courses are mathematics. Even among workers with the same level of education, those with more math have higher wages on average and are less likely to be unemployed. These findings suggest that even students ending their formal education after high school can increase their future earnings by investing in more math courses while in high school.
    Bibliography Citation
    James, Jonathan. "The Surprising Impact of High School Math on Job Market Outcomes." Economic Commentary, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, November 2013.
    6. Pandjiris, Amy
    Does School Quality Affect Juvenile Crime?
    2003 Economic Commentary, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, January 2003.
    Also: http://www.clevelandfed.org/Research/Com2003/0115.pdf
    Cohort(s): NLSY97
    Publisher: Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
    Keyword(s): Adolescent Behavior; Crime; Delinquency/Gang Activity; School Quality; Schooling; Teenagers

    Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

    This essay investigates whether students who attend higher-quality schools commit fewer crimes. If so, improving school quality might be worth considering as an approach to reducing juvenile crime. The author finds some evidence that higher-quality schools are associated with lower probabilities of committing some types of crime.
    Bibliography Citation
    Pandjiris, Amy. "Does School Quality Affect Juvenile Crime?" 2003 Economic Commentary, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, January 2003.
    7. Powers, Elizabeth T.
    Does Means-testing Welfare Discourage Saving? Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Women
    Working Paper No.9519, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, December 1995
    Cohort(s): Young Women
    Publisher: Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
    Keyword(s): Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Assets; Benefits; Endogeneity; Wealth; Welfare

    Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

    This paper empirically tests whether the asset limit associated with the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program discourages wealth accumulation by actual and prospective participants. Prior to 1981, the AFDC asset test varied substantially across states, and this variation can be used to identify the effect of the limit on wealth. Wealth holdings for female-headed households (the primary recipient group for AFDC) for 1978 are estimated using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Women. A $1 difference in state limits results in an estimated $.50 difference in total net wealth holdings of female-headed households in different states. This qualitative finding of a significantly positive effect is reasonably robust with respect to a variety of specifications of the wealth equation and instrumenting of the limit to correct for the potential endogeneity of policy. After instrumenting, a $1 difference in limits implies a difference in potential AFDC recipients' wealth holdings of $.30.
    Bibliography Citation
    Powers, Elizabeth T. "Does Means-testing Welfare Discourage Saving? Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Women." Working Paper No.9519, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, December 1995.
    8. Powers, Elizabeth T.
    Fertility and Welfare Participation
    Working Paper No. 9516, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, December 1995
    Cohort(s): NLSY79
    Publisher: Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
    Keyword(s): Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Childbearing; Current Population Survey (CPS) / CPS-Fertility Supplement; Family Size; Fertility; Welfare

    Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

    Despite the attention that the fertility of welfare recipients has received recently, surprisingly little is known about it. This paper answers some basic questions about the phenomenon of welfare births. Among the findings from the March 1987 Current Population Survey are that 13.4 percent of all births are into the 7.3 percent of families receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and that (unadjusted) fertility rates of welfare recipients exceed those of other groups. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, I find that nearly 60 percent of women who use AFDC in one or more years of the sample period have at least one "AFDC birth." I do not find prima facie evidence supporting the notions that women use AFDC to begin families earlier and that mothers use AFDC to realize their desires for large families.
    Bibliography Citation
    Powers, Elizabeth T. "Fertility and Welfare Participation." Working Paper No. 9516, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, December 1995.
    9. Powers, Elizabeth T.
    The Impact of AFDC on Birth Decisions and Program Participation
    Working Paper No. 9408, Federal Reserve Bank Cleveland, Ohio, June 1994.
    Also: http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/workpaper/1994/wp9408.pdf
    Cohort(s): Mature Women
    Publisher: Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
    Keyword(s): Age at First Birth; Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Birth Rate; Family Characteristics; Marital Status; Modeling, Logit; Modeling, Probit; Welfare

    Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

    Recently, New Jersey and Wisconsin eliminated the practice of increasing the AFDC benefits of families that bear additional children while on the program. Policy makers seem to accept the notion that added benefits encourage participants to bear more children, despite little direct formal evidence. This paper uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Women to examine the impact of both the level of AFDC benefits and the per child increment on births, as well as the effect of benefit policy and childbearing on AFDC participation. Single-equation probit estimates suggest that women on AFDC are no more likely than nonparticipants to give birth over the five years following the observation, but that those births which do occur are positively associated with incremental AFDC benefits. When birth and welfare participation decisions are estimated sequentially in a nested logit framework, AFDC benefits are found to be a significant factor in the post-birth participation decision, and empirical support emerges for the hypothesis that AFDC benefits also encourage additional births. The estimated parameters are used to simulate the impact on participation and births of eliminating incremental benefits for both new program entrants and continuing participants. Even though the specification supports the "AFDC benefits cause births" hypothesis, eliminating the new-birth increment would reduce total program costs by less than 3 percent, since both the per dollar effect of benefits on births and the per child increments themselves are small.
    Bibliography Citation
    Powers, Elizabeth T. "The Impact of AFDC on Birth Decisions and Program Participation." Working Paper No. 9408, Federal Reserve Bank Cleveland, Ohio, June 1994.
    10. Whitaker, Stephan D.
    Industrial Composition and Intergenerational Mobility
    Working Paper 15-33, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, December 2015.
    Also: https://www.clevelandfed.org/newsroom-and-events/publications/working-papers/2015-working-papers/wp-1533-industrial-composition-and-intergenerational-mobility.aspx
    Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult, NLSY97
    Publisher: Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
    Keyword(s): College Degree; Current Population Survey (CPS) / CPS-Fertility Supplement; Educational Attainment; Geocoded Data; Industrial Classification; Intergenerational Patterns/Transmission; Labor Market Demographics; Mobility, Occupational; Parental Influences

    Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

    For five decades, the share of adults employed in college-degree-intensive industries, such as health care and education, has been rising. Industries that provided employment for workers without degrees, especially manufacturing, have been reducing their payrolls. This economic transition could impact the probability of children obtaining higher levels of education than their parents achieved. In this analysis, measures of the local industrial composition from the Current Population Survey are merged with the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth using the confidential geo-coded records. Living in a labor market with a higher share of adults employed in degree-intensive industries is positively associated with obtaining a college degree among youth whose parents do not have a degree. An additional standard deviation difference in the share of employment in degree-intensive industries corresponds to a 0.02 increase in the probability of ascending to being a college graduate, from a mean of 0.23. For cohorts born in the 1960s, living in a manufacturing-intensive region was negatively correlated with college attainment, but the relationship becomes positive among more recent cohorts. Alternate specifications introduce measures of several factors that could relate the industrial composition to educational attainment, including returns to education (wage premiums), opportunity costs (youth employment), parental inputs (family structure, income), community resources (per capita income), information (regional education levels, post-secondary student populations), and networks (parent's employment).
    Bibliography Citation
    Whitaker, Stephan D. "Industrial Composition and Intergenerational Mobility." Working Paper 15-33, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, December 2015.