Unlevel Playing Fields: Understanding Wage Inequality and Discrimination

unlevel playing fields cover
Edition:
2nd
Date of publication:
Dec. 2004
ISBN:
1-878585-47-9
Pages:
233
Price:
$28.95


  • LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
  • PREFACE
  • ABOUT THE AUTHORS
  • PART 1 INTRODUCTION TO WAGE INEQUALITY
    • 1 Two Views on Inequality and Discrimination
    • A GLIMPSE AT DISCRIMINATION
    • TWO VIEWS FROM ECONOMICS
    • WHAT'S AT STAKE HERE
    • PLAN OF THE BOOK
    • DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
    • SUGGESTED READINGS
  • 2 Labor Market Inequality by the Numbers
    • INTRODUCTION: LIES, DAMN LIES, AND STATISTICS
    • WAGES: THE BASICS OF WAGE INEQUALITY
      • The Rise and Fall of Real Wages
      • The Increase in Wage Inequality
      • Wage Inequality by Race
      • The U of Male-Female Wages
    • UNEMPLOYMENT TRENDS SINCE THE 1950s:
    • PERSISTENT INEQUALITIES
      • Measuring Unemployment and Employment
      • Unemployment and the Business Cycle
      • The Race Gap
      • Gender Differences
    • THE DISTRIBUTION OF JOBS: NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT
      • Industry Differences
      • Occupational Differences
      • Occupational Segregation
      • The Possibility of Discrimination
    • SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
    • DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
    • SUGGESTED READINGS
  • PART 2 THE NEOCLASSICAL APPROACH
  • 3 The Basics of Neoclassical Economics
    • CENTRAL IDEAS: MARKETS AND COMPETITION
    • HOW PEOPLE ACT: RATIONALITY, SCARCITY, AND OPPORTUNITY COST
    • WELCOME TO THE MARKET: DEMAND AND SUPPLY
      • Demand
      • Supply
      • Equilibrium
    • EFFICIENCY, EQUITY, AND THE GOVERNMENT
      • Efficiency
      • Equity
      • Laissez-faire
    • BEHIND THE MARKET: THE DIVISION OF LABOR AND COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE
    • SUMMING UP
    • DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
    • SUGGESTED READINGS
    • APPENDIX: A CLOSER LOOK: THE ROOTS OF NEOCLASSICAL ECONOMICS
      • Adam Smith and the Wealth of Nations
      • David Ricardo and Comparative Advantage
      • The Marginalists
      • Pareto and Efficiency
  • 4 Work and Wages in the Neoclassical Model
    • INTRODUCTION: THE MARKET FOR WORK
    • THE DEMAND FOR LABOR: WHY FIRMS EMPLOY PEOPLE
    • THE SUPPLY OF LABOR: WHO WANTS TO WORK, AND HOW
    • PRODUCTIVE ARE THEY?
      • The Work Decision
      • Human Capital
      • Household Production
    • EXPLAINING WAGE DIFFERENCES
      • Firm-specific and General Human Capital
      • Compensating Differences and Hedonic Wages
      • Inheritance
    • UNEMPLOYMENT
      • Structural Unemployment
      • Frictional Unemployment
      • Seasonal Unemployment
      • Linking Unemployment and Wages
      • The Keynesian Challenge
    • THE FAIRNESS OF INEQUALITY: WAGE DIFFERENCES AMONG GROUPS
    • DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
    • SUGGESTED READINGS
  • 5 Discrimination in the Neoclassical View
    • INTRODUCTION: DIFFERENCE AND DISCRIMINATION
      • The Inefficiency of Discrimination
      • Three Outcomes from Discrimination
    • MODELS OF DISCRIMINATION BASED ON PREJUDICE: CONSUMERS, EMPLOYERS, AND EMPLOYEES
      • Consumer Discrimination
      • Employer Discrimination
      • Employee Discrimination
    • STATISTICAL DISCRIMINATION
      • The Transaction Costs Problem
      • The Problem of Statistical Discrimination
      • Comparing Prejudice and Statistical Discrimination
    • THE MAGIC OF THE MARKET TO THE RESCUE: ENDING DISCRIMINATION
      • Ending Discrimination Because of Prejudice
      • Ending Statistical Discrimination
      • MEASURING WAGE DISCRIMINATION
        • How to Measure Wage Discrimination
        • How Severe Is Wage Discrimination?
        • Problems with Measures of Wage Discrimination
        • WHY DISCRIMINATION PERSISTS
          • Premarket Discrimination
          • Cultural and Biological Differences
          • The Underclass
        • POLICIES AND PRESCRIPTIONS
          • Affirmative Action
          • Comparable Worth
        • SUMMARY
        • DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
        • SUGGESTED READINGS
  • PART 3 THE POLITICAL ECONOMY APPROACH
  • 6 The Basics of Political Economy
    • INTRODUCTION: A DIFFERENT WORLD-VIEW
    • THE FOUR C's: CONTEXT, COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR, CONFLICTING INTERESTS, AND CHANGE
      • Context: It Isn't Just the Economy
      • Collective Behavior: Who We Are Is What We Are
      • Conflicting Interests: Winners and Losers
      • Change: It Wasn't Always This Way
    • CLASS, RACE, AND GENDER
      • Class: The Rich Get Richer . . .
      • Race: Exclusion and Solidarity
      • Gender: "A Woman's Place"
      • Connecting Relations and Oppression
    • COMPETITION TO THE RESCUE, NOT
    • CHALLENGING OPPRESSION: IT AIN'T OVER TILL IT'S OVER
    • SUMMING UP
    • DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
    • SUGGESTED READINGS
    • APPENDIX: POLITICAL ECONOMY'S ROOTS
      • The Point of Departure
      • Marx: Class Systems
      • Including Institutions and Customs
      • John Maynard Keynes
      • Expanding Rights: The Protest Movements in the 1950s to 1970s
  • 7 Work and Wages in the Political Economy
    • INTRODUCTION: MORE THAN A PAYCHECK
    • WAGE DETERMINATION
      • The Labor Theory of Value
      • The Role of Customs and Institutions
      • Home Production and the Family Wage
      • Income Supports and the Social Wage
    • MACROECONOMICS: BUSINESS CYCLES AND UNEMPLOYMENT
    • LABOR MARKETS IN CAPITALISM: MOTIVATION AND THE LABOR
    • PROCESS
      • The Cost of Job Loss: Unemployment Is No Picnic
      • The Labor Process: Simplify and Control
    • EXPLAINING WAGE DIFFERENTIALS
      • Labor Segmentation: Divide and Conquer Everywhere
      • Traditions: Faces Filling Places
    • SUMMARY
    • DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
    • SUGGESTED READINGS
    • 8 The Political Economy Model of Discrimination
    • INTRODUCTION: EXPLOITATION, DOMINATION, AND EXCLUSION AGAIN
    • DISCRIMINATION IN CONTEXT: WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW CAN HURT YOU
    • GROUNDS FOR DISCRIMINATION: ECONOMIC INCENTIVES AND ORGANIZATIONAL ADAPTATION
      • Economic Incentives
      • Organizational Adaptation: Don't Rock the Boat
    • THE DYNAMICS OF DISCRIMINATION
      • Discrimination and the Business Cycle
      • The Long-Run Dynamics of Discrimination
    • WHAT TO DO?
      • Affirmative Action Revisited
      • Comparable Worth
    • A FEW CONCLUSIONS
    • DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
    • SUGGESTED READINGS
  • PART 4 INEQUALITY TODAY
  • 9 Where Do We Go from Here?
    • DOES DISCRIMINATION STILL MATTER?
    • A COMMON GROUND ANSWER: LET'S LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD
      • The Debate Is Frustrating
      • The Debate Is Unnecessary
      • Searching for the Common Ground
    • EQUAL AND SUFFICIENT OPPORTUNITY POLICIES
      • Education Policies
      • Full-Employment Policies
      • Family-Friendly Policies
    • PAYING FOR EQUITY
    • CONCLUSION: POSITIVE-SUM SOLUTIONS
    • DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
    • SUGGESTED READINGS
    • INDEX

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

TABLES

    • 2.1 Hourly Wages For Wage Workers (In 2001 Dollars)
    • 2.2 Labor Force, Employment, and Unemployment Statistics for Civilian Population 16 Years and Older, 2003
    • 2.3 Business Cycle Peaks and Troughs, 1945-2003
    • 2.4 Unemployment Rates and Ratios by Gender, Race, and Age in Trough and Peak Years of Business Cycle
    • 2.5 Employment by Industry, 1970, 1980, 1993, and 2002
    • 2.6 Composition of Industrial Employment by Gender, Race, and Ethnicity, 2002
    • 2.7 Employment by Occupations, 1983 and 2003
    • 2.8 Occupational Composition of Employment by Gender, Race, and Ethnicity and Mean Hourly Earnings of Full-Time Employees
    • 2.9 Top 10 Detailed Occupations for All Full-Time Employed Women, 2003
    • 2.10 Top 10 Detailed Occupations for All Full-Time Employed Men, 2003
    • 2.11 Median Weekly Earnings of Full-Time Workers By Sex in Management-Related Occupations, 2003
    • 2.12 Mean Hourly Earnings among YRFT Workers 35-44 Years Old with a Graduate or Professional Degree, 1989
    • 5.1 The Gender Gap in Wages
    • 7.1 Characteristics of Labor Segments
    • 9.1 Median Income by Race and Gender for All Persons Older than 25 Years and the Percentage and Median Income of Those with a Bachelor's Degree or More

FIGURES

    • 2.1 Average weekly earnings, 1955 to 2003 (in 20033 dollars)
    • 2.2 Median earnings of YRFT male workers, 1955 to 2003 (in 2003 dollars)
    • 2.3 Median annual earnings for YRFT white and black male workers, selected years, 1967 to 2003 (in 2003 dollars)
    • 2.4 Median annual earnings for YRFT white and black female workers, selected years, 1967 to 1993 (in 2003 dollars)
    • 2.5 Median annual earnings and earnings ratio of YRFT male and female workers, for selected years, 1953 to 2003 (in 2003 dollars)
    • 2.6 Median income for white and black men and women, to 2003 (in 2003 dollars)
    • 2.7 Unemployment rates, 1947 to 2003
    • 2.8 Black and white unemployment rates, 1947 to 2003
    • 2.9 Male and female unemployment rates, 1947 to 2003
    • 2.10 Occupational distribution of men and women, 2003
    • 2.11 Occupational distribution of white, black, and hispanic workers, 2003
    • 3.1 Equilibrium in the artichoke market
    • 3.2 Change in demand for artichokes
    • 4.1 Female labor supply
    • 4.2 Male labor supply
    • 6.1 Forms of Oppression: Class, Race, and Gender
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