Jeffrey B Wenger
Biographic Data
| ID | 87648 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jeffrey B Wenger |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jeffrey B |
| FAMILY NAME | Wenger |
| SIGNATURE | WENGER J B |
| AFFILIATIONS | American University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5352-5519 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 163 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
The evolution of veteran educational attainment gaps over the life cycle
Individuals who serve in the military substitute work experience for post-secondary educational attainment after high school, leading to large educational attainment gaps between new veterans and observably similar nonveterans. Little is known about the evolution of these gaps by age and across cohorts. We investigate the life-cycle attainment of veterans relative to nonveterans using a synthetic panel data approach. Following five multiyear birt…
State minimum wage increases delay marriage and reduce divorce among low‐wage households
Objective: To estimate the effects of state-level changes in the minimum wage on marriage and divorce among low-wage earners. Background: Proponents of raising the minimum wage highlight the potential benefits of increased earnings for low-income families, yet to date research on the effects of raising the minimum wage has focused almost exclusively on economic outcomes. No research has yet documented whether these changes actually affect marriag…
A Consumption-Based Definition of the Middle Class
Divergent fortunes: Growing wealth inequality and widening entrepreneurship by age
Entrepreneurship can offer people control over their working lives. Yet, it has declined among households younger than 50 years and grown among older households. We examine the relationship between growing wealth inequality and this widening entrepreneurial age disparities by focusing on wealth as a source of income diversification. Our main hypothesis is that younger households have less capital income from wealth holdings leading to less divers…
Can Income Diversification Explain the Growing Entrepreneurship Gap by Age
Entrepreneurship has declined among households younger than 50 years, while it has grown among older households over the past few decades. We hypothesize that this divergence results from younger households having less diversified income from sources unrelated to business income such as capital income and annuity income than is the case for older households. Using data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finance, we calculate descriptiv…
The Political Structure of Policy Diffusion
Unlike the U.S. Constitution, many state constitutions include provisions for regulating and legislating specific policy issues. Embedding policy proscriptions in state constitutions may impact the rate and likelihood of policy diffusion. To examine how the amendment process influences diffusion resulting from geographic competition, we estimate a well‐known policy diffusion model, using state‐sponsored lotteries as a case study. Our mixed model …
Belief in a Just World and Attitudes Toward Affirmative Action
The effect of identity, as socially constructed by race and gender, on social policies has been widely examined in policy analysis. Policy analysis would be improved by a wider discussion that includes the influence of social‐psychological constructs on social provision. We fill this gap by drawing on the theory of the “belief in a just world” and link this theory to attitudes toward the support of controversial government programs. We argue that…
State Unemployment Insurance Trust Solvency and Benefit Generosity: State Unemployment Insurance Trust Solvency and Benefit Generosity
When Claimant Characteristics and Prior Performance Predict Bureaucratic Error
The public administration literature has paid scant attention to bureaucratic errors as performance measures. This has largely been due to a lack of data. Unlike most programs, the unemployment insurance (UI) program has systematically collected performance data and has independently audited those data to determine error responsibility (employer, employee, and agency error). In the first comprehensive analysis of these data, we examine the probab…
He said, she said: The gender wage gap according to self and proxy reports in the Current Population Survey
Demanding Information: Think Tanks and the US Congress
The recent growth in the formation of think tanks in the United States raises questions about their role in the democratic process. A theory of think-tank formation is pre here, which posits that committee debate creates incentives for legislators to seek research-based, policy-analytic information supporting competing policy positions. As political entrepreneurs recognize this demand, they supply think tanks, just as scholars have suggested they…
Trading Speed for Accuracy? Managing Goal Conflict and Accommodation in the U.S. Unemployment Insurance Program
Public managers must often cope with competing and conflicting goals. The common formulation is to assume that managers must trade‐off goals against each other. But is this always true? An alternative hypothesis is that sometimes managers may instead be able to improve outcomes on multiple goals simultaneously—by altering management practices. We test this “trade‐off” notion using a panel of state‐level administrative data from the U.S. unemploym…
At the Discretion of Rogue Agents: How Automation Improves Women's Outcomes in Unemployment Insurance
Automation curtails the discretion of street-level bureaucrats in several ways: bureaucrats have little control over the input of data by claimants, management has increased opportunities for monitoring, and given the possibility that clients will deal with multiple bureaucrats, coworkers can now identify “rogue” agents. Some clients of a bureaucracy may benefit from the introduction of automation when the agency is biased against them. We test t…
Choosing Public Sector Employment: The Impact of Wages on the Representation of Women and Minorities in State Bureaucracies
In the past, researchers in the field of public administration have been hindered in their ability to study trends in the representation of women and minorities in state government due to limitations in data availability. This article develops an alternative approach to examining the representation of women and minorities in state government bureaucracies over the period from 1987 to 2002. Based on estimates constructed using the Bureau of Labor …
Unemployment Insurance Eligibility Before and After Welfare Reform
Welfare and unemployment insurance (UI) were designed to serve distinct populations, mothers and workers. As more women moved into the paid labor force, these previously separate groups have melded into a single group–working mothers. In this research, we analyze the likelihood of former welfare recipients being eligible for UI using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation. Our analysis compares UI eligibility in the early 1990s …
Why triggers fail (and what to do about it): An examination of the unemployment insurance extended benefits program
During periods of high unemployment, many workers exhaust their unemployment insurance (UI) benefits before regaining employment. To help alleviate this problem, Congress created the extended benefits (EB) program, expanding the number of weeks of benefits available to UI recipients in high unemployment states. The EB program operates by “triggering on” additional weeks of benefits in states where unemployment and UI benefit receipt are above fed…
Employment, privatization, and managerial choice: Does contracting out reduce public sector employment
We examine the effects of governments' use of alternative service provision on public employment using panel data from a nationally representative sample of local governments. We model the effects of alternative service provision on the size of the public workforce and hypothesize that alternative provision jointly impacts both full‐ and part‐time employment. We find evidence of an inter‐relationship between these employment types. Our results fr…
Employers' Flexibility and Employment Volatility: An Analysis of the U.S. Personnel Supply Industry, 1972-2000
Previous analyses of the strong secular growth in personnel supply employment have focused primarily on the relative impacts of demand and supply factors. This industry's dramatic growth has tended to mask its high degree of volatility, which may be more useful in understanding employers' motivations for hiring temporary employees. This article examines alternative explanations for the volatility of employment in the temporary supply industry fro…
Ruining Retirement: How the Union Benefit Crisis Is Shifting Risks Onto Workers
The Economic Contributions of James J. Heckman and Daniel L. McFadden
This paper analyzes the economic contributions of Daniel L. McFadden and James J. Heckman, who were awarded the Nobel Prize in economic science in 2000. McFadden's analytical work on discrete choices and related theory brings economic tools to bear on policy questions that previously had not been empirically investigated. The multinomial logit and similar models developed by McFadden enable researchers to empirically model factors that affect ind…
At the Discretion of Rogue Agents: How Automation Improves Women's Outcomes in Unemployment Insurance
Automation curtails the discretion of street-level bureaucrats in several ways: bureaucrats have little control over the input of data by claimants, management has increased opportunities for monitoring, and given the possibility that clients will deal with multiple bureaucrats, coworkers can now identify “rogue” agents. Some clients of a bureaucracy may benefit from the introduction of automation when the agency is biased against them. We test t…
Choosing Public Sector Employment: The Impact of Wages on the Representation of Women and Minorities in State Bureaucracies
In the past, researchers in the field of public administration have been hindered in their ability to study trends in the representation of women and minorities in state government due to limitations in data availability. This article develops an alternative approach to examining the representation of women and minorities in state government bureaucracies over the period from 1987 to 2002. Based on estimates constructed using the Bureau of Labor …
Demanding Information: Think Tanks and the US Congress
The recent growth in the formation of think tanks in the United States raises questions about their role in the democratic process. A theory of think-tank formation is pre here, which posits that committee debate creates incentives for legislators to seek research-based, policy-analytic information supporting competing policy positions. As political entrepreneurs recognize this demand, they supply think tanks, just as scholars have suggested they…
Employment, privatization, and managerial choice: Does contracting out reduce public sector employment
We examine the effects of governments' use of alternative service provision on public employment using panel data from a nationally representative sample of local governments. We model the effects of alternative service provision on the size of the public workforce and hypothesize that alternative provision jointly impacts both full‐ and part‐time employment. We find evidence of an inter‐relationship between these employment types. Our results fr…
The Political Structure of Policy Diffusion
Unlike the U.S. Constitution, many state constitutions include provisions for regulating and legislating specific policy issues. Embedding policy proscriptions in state constitutions may impact the rate and likelihood of policy diffusion. To examine how the amendment process influences diffusion resulting from geographic competition, we estimate a well‐known policy diffusion model, using state‐sponsored lotteries as a case study. Our mixed model …
Belief in a Just World and Attitudes Toward Affirmative Action
The effect of identity, as socially constructed by race and gender, on social policies has been widely examined in policy analysis. Policy analysis would be improved by a wider discussion that includes the influence of social‐psychological constructs on social provision. We fill this gap by drawing on the theory of the “belief in a just world” and link this theory to attitudes toward the support of controversial government programs. We argue that…
Trading Speed for Accuracy? Managing Goal Conflict and Accommodation in the U.S. Unemployment Insurance Program
Public managers must often cope with competing and conflicting goals. The common formulation is to assume that managers must trade‐off goals against each other. But is this always true? An alternative hypothesis is that sometimes managers may instead be able to improve outcomes on multiple goals simultaneously—by altering management practices. We test this “trade‐off” notion using a panel of state‐level administrative data from the U.S. unemploym…
He said, she said: The gender wage gap according to self and proxy reports in the Current Population Survey
When Claimant Characteristics and Prior Performance Predict Bureaucratic Error
The public administration literature has paid scant attention to bureaucratic errors as performance measures. This has largely been due to a lack of data. Unlike most programs, the unemployment insurance (UI) program has systematically collected performance data and has independently audited those data to determine error responsibility (employer, employee, and agency error). In the first comprehensive analysis of these data, we examine the probab…
State Unemployment Insurance Trust Solvency and Benefit Generosity: State Unemployment Insurance Trust Solvency and Benefit Generosity
Unemployment Insurance Eligibility Before and After Welfare Reform
Welfare and unemployment insurance (UI) were designed to serve distinct populations, mothers and workers. As more women moved into the paid labor force, these previously separate groups have melded into a single group–working mothers. In this research, we analyze the likelihood of former welfare recipients being eligible for UI using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation. Our analysis compares UI eligibility in the early 1990s …
Employers' Flexibility and Employment Volatility: An Analysis of the U.S. Personnel Supply Industry, 1972-2000
Previous analyses of the strong secular growth in personnel supply employment have focused primarily on the relative impacts of demand and supply factors. This industry's dramatic growth has tended to mask its high degree of volatility, which may be more useful in understanding employers' motivations for hiring temporary employees. This article examines alternative explanations for the volatility of employment in the temporary supply industry fro…
Ruining Retirement: How the Union Benefit Crisis Is Shifting Risks Onto Workers
The Economic Contributions of James J. Heckman and Daniel L. McFadden
This paper analyzes the economic contributions of Daniel L. McFadden and James J. Heckman, who were awarded the Nobel Prize in economic science in 2000. McFadden's analytical work on discrete choices and related theory brings economic tools to bear on policy questions that previously had not been empirically investigated. The multinomial logit and similar models developed by McFadden enable researchers to empirically model factors that affect ind…
The Economic Contributions of James J. Heckman and Daniel L. McFadden
This paper analyzes the economic contributions of Daniel L. McFadden and James J. Heckman, who were awarded the Nobel Prize in economic science in 2000. McFadden's analytical work on discrete choices and related theory brings economic tools to bear on policy questions that previously had not been empirically investigated. The multinomial logit and similar models developed by McFadden enable researchers to empirically model factors that affect ind…
Ruining Retirement: How the Union Benefit Crisis Is Shifting Risks Onto Workers
Unemployment Insurance Eligibility Before and After Welfare Reform
Welfare and unemployment insurance (UI) were designed to serve distinct populations, mothers and workers. As more women moved into the paid labor force, these previously separate groups have melded into a single group–working mothers. In this research, we analyze the likelihood of former welfare recipients being eligible for UI using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation. Our analysis compares UI eligibility in the early 1990s …
Why triggers fail (and what to do about it): An examination of the unemployment insurance extended benefits program
During periods of high unemployment, many workers exhaust their unemployment insurance (UI) benefits before regaining employment. To help alleviate this problem, Congress created the extended benefits (EB) program, expanding the number of weeks of benefits available to UI recipients in high unemployment states. The EB program operates by “triggering on” additional weeks of benefits in states where unemployment and UI benefit receipt are above fed…
Employment, privatization, and managerial choice: Does contracting out reduce public sector employment
We examine the effects of governments' use of alternative service provision on public employment using panel data from a nationally representative sample of local governments. We model the effects of alternative service provision on the size of the public workforce and hypothesize that alternative provision jointly impacts both full‐ and part‐time employment. We find evidence of an inter‐relationship between these employment types. Our results fr…
Employers' Flexibility and Employment Volatility: An Analysis of the U.S. Personnel Supply Industry, 1972-2000
Previous analyses of the strong secular growth in personnel supply employment have focused primarily on the relative impacts of demand and supply factors. This industry's dramatic growth has tended to mask its high degree of volatility, which may be more useful in understanding employers' motivations for hiring temporary employees. This article examines alternative explanations for the volatility of employment in the temporary supply industry fro…
Choosing Public Sector Employment: The Impact of Wages on the Representation of Women and Minorities in State Bureaucracies
In the past, researchers in the field of public administration have been hindered in their ability to study trends in the representation of women and minorities in state government due to limitations in data availability. This article develops an alternative approach to examining the representation of women and minorities in state government bureaucracies over the period from 1987 to 2002. Based on estimates constructed using the Bureau of Labor …
Trading Speed for Accuracy? Managing Goal Conflict and Accommodation in the U.S. Unemployment Insurance Program
Public managers must often cope with competing and conflicting goals. The common formulation is to assume that managers must trade‐off goals against each other. But is this always true? An alternative hypothesis is that sometimes managers may instead be able to improve outcomes on multiple goals simultaneously—by altering management practices. We test this “trade‐off” notion using a panel of state‐level administrative data from the U.S. unemploym…
At the Discretion of Rogue Agents: How Automation Improves Women's Outcomes in Unemployment Insurance
Automation curtails the discretion of street-level bureaucrats in several ways: bureaucrats have little control over the input of data by claimants, management has increased opportunities for monitoring, and given the possibility that clients will deal with multiple bureaucrats, coworkers can now identify “rogue” agents. Some clients of a bureaucracy may benefit from the introduction of automation when the agency is biased against them. We test t…
Demanding Information: Think Tanks and the US Congress
The recent growth in the formation of think tanks in the United States raises questions about their role in the democratic process. A theory of think-tank formation is pre here, which posits that committee debate creates incentives for legislators to seek research-based, policy-analytic information supporting competing policy positions. As political entrepreneurs recognize this demand, they supply think tanks, just as scholars have suggested they…
When Claimant Characteristics and Prior Performance Predict Bureaucratic Error
The public administration literature has paid scant attention to bureaucratic errors as performance measures. This has largely been due to a lack of data. Unlike most programs, the unemployment insurance (UI) program has systematically collected performance data and has independently audited those data to determine error responsibility (employer, employee, and agency error). In the first comprehensive analysis of these data, we examine the probab…
He said, she said: The gender wage gap according to self and proxy reports in the Current Population Survey
State Unemployment Insurance Trust Solvency and Benefit Generosity: State Unemployment Insurance Trust Solvency and Benefit Generosity
Belief in a Just World and Attitudes Toward Affirmative Action
The effect of identity, as socially constructed by race and gender, on social policies has been widely examined in policy analysis. Policy analysis would be improved by a wider discussion that includes the influence of social‐psychological constructs on social provision. We fill this gap by drawing on the theory of the “belief in a just world” and link this theory to attitudes toward the support of controversial government programs. We argue that…
The Political Structure of Policy Diffusion
Unlike the U.S. Constitution, many state constitutions include provisions for regulating and legislating specific policy issues. Embedding policy proscriptions in state constitutions may impact the rate and likelihood of policy diffusion. To examine how the amendment process influences diffusion resulting from geographic competition, we estimate a well‐known policy diffusion model, using state‐sponsored lotteries as a case study. Our mixed model …
Can Income Diversification Explain the Growing Entrepreneurship Gap by Age
Entrepreneurship has declined among households younger than 50 years, while it has grown among older households over the past few decades. We hypothesize that this divergence results from younger households having less diversified income from sources unrelated to business income such as capital income and annuity income than is the case for older households. Using data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finance, we calculate descriptiv…
Divergent fortunes: Growing wealth inequality and widening entrepreneurship by age
Entrepreneurship can offer people control over their working lives. Yet, it has declined among households younger than 50 years and grown among older households. We examine the relationship between growing wealth inequality and this widening entrepreneurial age disparities by focusing on wealth as a source of income diversification. Our main hypothesis is that younger households have less capital income from wealth holdings leading to less divers…
State minimum wage increases delay marriage and reduce divorce among low‐wage households
Objective: To estimate the effects of state-level changes in the minimum wage on marriage and divorce among low-wage earners. Background: Proponents of raising the minimum wage highlight the potential benefits of increased earnings for low-income families, yet to date research on the effects of raising the minimum wage has focused almost exclusively on economic outcomes. No research has yet documented whether these changes actually affect marriag…
A Consumption-Based Definition of the Middle Class
The evolution of veteran educational attainment gaps over the life cycle
Individuals who serve in the military substitute work experience for post-secondary educational attainment after high school, leading to large educational attainment gaps between new veterans and observably similar nonveterans. Little is known about the evolution of these gaps by age and across cohorts. We investigate the life-cycle attainment of veterans relative to nonveterans using a synthetic panel data approach. Following five multiyear birt…
Economics (17 works) · Labour economics (11 works) · Political science (10 works) · Business (9 works) · Demographic economics (9 works) · Public economics (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Economic growth (7 works) · Actuarial science (6 works) · Employment and Welfare Studies (6 works)