Solomon William Polachek
Biographic Data
| ID | 982863 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Solomon William Polachek |
| GIVEN NAMES | Solomon William |
| FAMILY NAME | Polachek |
| SIGNATURE | POLACHEK S W |
| AFFILIATIONS | Binghamton University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2976-3402 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 26 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 816 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 26 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1974 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
China’s one-child exemptions and the spousal age gap
This paper examines the impact of exemptions to China’s 1979 One-Child Policy on fertility and the spousal age gap. The exemptions, implemented at different times across provinces, created exogenous variation that we exploit using a staggered Difference-in-Differences design. Our analysis uses the 2010 China Family Panel Studies and focuses on couples with rural hukou status, who were most affected by these exemptions during the study period. We …
Causal Inference Using Antidotal Variables
This paper shows that incorporating what we call antidotal variables (AV) into a causal treatment effects analysis can with one cross-sectional regression identify the causal effect, the spillover effect, as well as possible biases from selectivity. We apply the AV technique to analyze leave taking arising from the California Paid Family Leave (CPFL) program. Our analysis yields between a 55% and 70% larger treatment effect than the traditional D…
The long-term health impact of Agent Orange
Hurricane watch
Micro- and Macroeconomic Implications of Heterogeneity in the Production of Human Capital
We derive a tractable nonlinear earnings function that we estimate separately individual by individual using NLSY79 data. We obtain three ability measures, a rate of skill depreciation, a time discount rate, and a population-wide estimate of the human capital rental rate. We utilize these parameters to verify a number of heretofore untested theorems based on the life cycle model. We show how these human capital production function parameters rela…
How Opportunity Costs Decrease the Probability of War in an Incomplete Information Game
This article shows that the opportunity costs resulting from economic interdependence decrease the probability of war in an incomplete information game. This result is strongly consistent with existing empirical analyses of the inverse trade-conflict relationship but is the opposite of the conclusion reached by Gartzke, Li, and Boehmer, who reject the opportunity cost argument in a game-theoretic framework. As a result of our findings, one cannot…
Geographic Proximity, Trade, and International Conflict/Cooperation
This article examines the interactive effect of distance and trade on international conflict and cooperation. The effect of geographic distance depends on trade, while the effect of trade varies with geographic distance. Trade reduces conflict to a greater extent when dyads are geographically close, but has a greater effect on cooperation when countries are more distant. Geographic proximity increases conflict and cooperation more among nontradin…
The Economics of Immigration and Social Diversity
This volume is a collection of papers dedicated to the memory of the late Tikva Lecker. Professor Lecker's many interests included topics in labor economics, women and the economy, the economics of Judaism, the economics of migration and every aspect of the economic experience of immigrants and their descendants. Each chapter in this volume honors the memory of Professor Lecker by presenting research on a topic in which she was especially interes…
The Size of Nations
The Size of Nations. By Alberto Alesina and Enrico Spolaore. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003. 272p. $35.00. When the Soviet Union fell, why did the region break up into smaller independent states, rather than remain one nation? In contrast, at almost the same time, what caused 15 European nations to band together to create a supranational institution with a common currency, rather than maintain their completely separate sovereignty? Are small coun…
Human Capital in the United States from 1975 to 2000
The roots of this manuscript go back over 20 years to the first published appearance of the Earnings Capacity (EC) indicator, which in turn grew out of an immense body of literature on human capital.The purpose of this volume is to demonstrate the importance and usefulness of EC in measuring the size and strength of the American economy.Ultimately, an economy is only as strong as the individuals that comprise it, and we suggest that the EC indica…
Trade-Based Interactions
This paper applies the "conflict-trade" international relations model to the question of labor unrest. Labor unrest is a particular form of conflict prevalent within the U.S. labor market. Labor unrest manifests itself when union workers strike for better wages and benefits during labor corur-act negotiations. The question addressed is why the more educated, less menial workers unionize and strike less. The conflict-trade model argues that dyads …
Liberalism and Interdependence
The question of whether trade affects conflict is important for public policy. To date, theoretical studies have treated trade or the gains from trade as exogenous. However, a dyad's gains from trade are influenced by a number of factors, including foreign aid, tariffs, contiguity, and relative country size. This article presents a mathematical model to extend the conflict-trade model to incorporate foreign aid, tariffs, contiguity, and country s…
Earnings Over the Life Cycle
It is argued that labor market success is perhaps the most important indicator of individual welfare. As such, this paper surveys recent developments in human capital theory to explain how earnings vary across the population. The paper begins with standard life cycle accumulation models which explain why earnings rise at a diminishing rate over one's life cycle. These models are then modified to incorporate (1) school quality to explain race diff…
The Economics of Earnings
Male-Female Wage Differentials in Taiwan
Why the Gender Gap in Wages Narrowed in the 1980s
Since 1976 the gender gap in wages on average declined by about 1% per year. This article focuses on identifying the factors underlying this trend. Three data sets are analyzed-the Current Population Survey, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, and the National Longitudinal Survey. We find that convergence in measurable work-related characteristics (schooling and work experience) explains one-third to one-half the narrowing. The remainder is attri…
Panel Estimates of Union Effects on Wages and Wage Growth
Solomon W. Polachek, Phanindra V. Wunnava, Michael T. Hutchins, Panel Estimates of Union Effects on Wages and Wage Growth, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 69, No. 3 (Aug., 1987), pp. 527-531
A Two-Tiered Earnings Frontier Estimation of Employer and Employee Information in the Labor Market
Solomon W. Polachek, Bong Joon Yoon, A Two-Tiered Earnings Frontier Estimation of Employer and Employee Information in the Labor Market, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 69, No. 2 (May, 1987), pp. 296-302
Occupational segregation and the gender wage gap
Economics
Modern Labor Economics
Conflict and Interdependence
This article investigates the relationship between interdependence and conflict, using U.S.-Warsaw Pact trade and conflict data during détente as a case study. A theoretical framework is developed in which incentives to reduce conflict are related to the desire to protect the benefits of an interaction. Asymmetric interdependence can lead to linkage diplomacy and to greater conflict reduction by one side than the other. These hypotheses are teste…
Occupational Self-Selection
Solomon William Polachek, Occupational Self-Selection: A Human Capital Approach to Sex Differences in Occupational Structure, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 63, No. 1 (Feb., 1981), pp. 60-69
Conflict and Trade
This article applies microeconomic theory to illustrate the plausibility of a relationship between international trade and conflict. It is argued that the mutual dependence established between two trading partners (dyads) is sufficient to raise the costs of conflict, there-by diminishing levels of dyadic dispute. This hypothesis of a negative relationship between conflict and trade is tested using a ten-year thirty-country cross section merged fr…
Sex Differences in College Major
Analysis of sex differences in choice of college major in the United States in 1955 and 1973, using nationwide data. Data on college major distribution by sex; Analysis of differences; Empirical estimation. (Abstract copyright EBSCO.)
Family Investments in Human Capital
Conflict and Trade
This article applies microeconomic theory to illustrate the plausibility of a relationship between international trade and conflict. It is argued that the mutual dependence established between two trading partners (dyads) is sufficient to raise the costs of conflict, there-by diminishing levels of dyadic dispute. This hypothesis of a negative relationship between conflict and trade is tested using a ten-year thirty-country cross section merged fr…
Conflict and Interdependence
This article investigates the relationship between interdependence and conflict, using U.S.-Warsaw Pact trade and conflict data during détente as a case study. A theoretical framework is developed in which incentives to reduce conflict are related to the desire to protect the benefits of an interaction. Asymmetric interdependence can lead to linkage diplomacy and to greater conflict reduction by one side than the other. These hypotheses are teste…
How Opportunity Costs Decrease the Probability of War in an Incomplete Information Game
This article shows that the opportunity costs resulting from economic interdependence decrease the probability of war in an incomplete information game. This result is strongly consistent with existing empirical analyses of the inverse trade-conflict relationship but is the opposite of the conclusion reached by Gartzke, Li, and Boehmer, who reject the opportunity cost argument in a game-theoretic framework. As a result of our findings, one cannot…
Sex Differences in College Major
Analysis of sex differences in choice of college major in the United States in 1955 and 1973, using nationwide data. Data on college major distribution by sex; Analysis of differences; Empirical estimation. (Abstract copyright EBSCO.)
Liberalism and Interdependence
The question of whether trade affects conflict is important for public policy. To date, theoretical studies have treated trade or the gains from trade as exogenous. However, a dyad's gains from trade are influenced by a number of factors, including foreign aid, tariffs, contiguity, and relative country size. This article presents a mathematical model to extend the conflict-trade model to incorporate foreign aid, tariffs, contiguity, and country s…
Geographic Proximity, Trade, and International Conflict/Cooperation
This article examines the interactive effect of distance and trade on international conflict and cooperation. The effect of geographic distance depends on trade, while the effect of trade varies with geographic distance. Trade reduces conflict to a greater extent when dyads are geographically close, but has a greater effect on cooperation when countries are more distant. Geographic proximity increases conflict and cooperation more among nontradin…
Occupational segregation and the gender wage gap
Earnings Over the Life Cycle
It is argued that labor market success is perhaps the most important indicator of individual welfare. As such, this paper surveys recent developments in human capital theory to explain how earnings vary across the population. The paper begins with standard life cycle accumulation models which explain why earnings rise at a diminishing rate over one's life cycle. These models are then modified to incorporate (1) school quality to explain race diff…
Male-Female Wage Differentials in Taiwan
Micro- and Macroeconomic Implications of Heterogeneity in the Production of Human Capital
We derive a tractable nonlinear earnings function that we estimate separately individual by individual using NLSY79 data. We obtain three ability measures, a rate of skill depreciation, a time discount rate, and a population-wide estimate of the human capital rental rate. We utilize these parameters to verify a number of heretofore untested theorems based on the life cycle model. We show how these human capital production function parameters rela…
The long-term health impact of Agent Orange
Family Investments in Human Capital
Sex Differences in College Major
Analysis of sex differences in choice of college major in the United States in 1955 and 1973, using nationwide data. Data on college major distribution by sex; Analysis of differences; Empirical estimation. (Abstract copyright EBSCO.)
Conflict and Trade
This article applies microeconomic theory to illustrate the plausibility of a relationship between international trade and conflict. It is argued that the mutual dependence established between two trading partners (dyads) is sufficient to raise the costs of conflict, there-by diminishing levels of dyadic dispute. This hypothesis of a negative relationship between conflict and trade is tested using a ten-year thirty-country cross section merged fr…
Occupational Self-Selection
Solomon William Polachek, Occupational Self-Selection: A Human Capital Approach to Sex Differences in Occupational Structure, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 63, No. 1 (Feb., 1981), pp. 60-69
Conflict and Interdependence
This article investigates the relationship between interdependence and conflict, using U.S.-Warsaw Pact trade and conflict data during détente as a case study. A theoretical framework is developed in which incentives to reduce conflict are related to the desire to protect the benefits of an interaction. Asymmetric interdependence can lead to linkage diplomacy and to greater conflict reduction by one side than the other. These hypotheses are teste…
Modern Labor Economics
Economics
Panel Estimates of Union Effects on Wages and Wage Growth
Solomon W. Polachek, Phanindra V. Wunnava, Michael T. Hutchins, Panel Estimates of Union Effects on Wages and Wage Growth, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 69, No. 3 (Aug., 1987), pp. 527-531
A Two-Tiered Earnings Frontier Estimation of Employer and Employee Information in the Labor Market
Solomon W. Polachek, Bong Joon Yoon, A Two-Tiered Earnings Frontier Estimation of Employer and Employee Information in the Labor Market, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 69, No. 2 (May, 1987), pp. 296-302
Occupational segregation and the gender wage gap
Why the Gender Gap in Wages Narrowed in the 1980s
Since 1976 the gender gap in wages on average declined by about 1% per year. This article focuses on identifying the factors underlying this trend. Three data sets are analyzed-the Current Population Survey, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, and the National Longitudinal Survey. We find that convergence in measurable work-related characteristics (schooling and work experience) explains one-third to one-half the narrowing. The remainder is attri…
Male-Female Wage Differentials in Taiwan
Earnings Over the Life Cycle
It is argued that labor market success is perhaps the most important indicator of individual welfare. As such, this paper surveys recent developments in human capital theory to explain how earnings vary across the population. The paper begins with standard life cycle accumulation models which explain why earnings rise at a diminishing rate over one's life cycle. These models are then modified to incorporate (1) school quality to explain race diff…
The Economics of Earnings
Liberalism and Interdependence
The question of whether trade affects conflict is important for public policy. To date, theoretical studies have treated trade or the gains from trade as exogenous. However, a dyad's gains from trade are influenced by a number of factors, including foreign aid, tariffs, contiguity, and relative country size. This article presents a mathematical model to extend the conflict-trade model to incorporate foreign aid, tariffs, contiguity, and country s…
Trade-Based Interactions
This paper applies the "conflict-trade" international relations model to the question of labor unrest. Labor unrest is a particular form of conflict prevalent within the U.S. labor market. Labor unrest manifests itself when union workers strike for better wages and benefits during labor corur-act negotiations. The question addressed is why the more educated, less menial workers unionize and strike less. The conflict-trade model argues that dyads …
The Size of Nations
The Size of Nations. By Alberto Alesina and Enrico Spolaore. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003. 272p. $35.00. When the Soviet Union fell, why did the region break up into smaller independent states, rather than remain one nation? In contrast, at almost the same time, what caused 15 European nations to band together to create a supranational institution with a common currency, rather than maintain their completely separate sovereignty? Are small coun…
Human Capital in the United States from 1975 to 2000
The roots of this manuscript go back over 20 years to the first published appearance of the Earnings Capacity (EC) indicator, which in turn grew out of an immense body of literature on human capital.The purpose of this volume is to demonstrate the importance and usefulness of EC in measuring the size and strength of the American economy.Ultimately, an economy is only as strong as the individuals that comprise it, and we suggest that the EC indica…
The Economics of Immigration and Social Diversity
This volume is a collection of papers dedicated to the memory of the late Tikva Lecker. Professor Lecker's many interests included topics in labor economics, women and the economy, the economics of Judaism, the economics of migration and every aspect of the economic experience of immigrants and their descendants. Each chapter in this volume honors the memory of Professor Lecker by presenting research on a topic in which she was especially interes…
Geographic Proximity, Trade, and International Conflict/Cooperation
This article examines the interactive effect of distance and trade on international conflict and cooperation. The effect of geographic distance depends on trade, while the effect of trade varies with geographic distance. Trade reduces conflict to a greater extent when dyads are geographically close, but has a greater effect on cooperation when countries are more distant. Geographic proximity increases conflict and cooperation more among nontradin…
How Opportunity Costs Decrease the Probability of War in an Incomplete Information Game
This article shows that the opportunity costs resulting from economic interdependence decrease the probability of war in an incomplete information game. This result is strongly consistent with existing empirical analyses of the inverse trade-conflict relationship but is the opposite of the conclusion reached by Gartzke, Li, and Boehmer, who reject the opportunity cost argument in a game-theoretic framework. As a result of our findings, one cannot…
Hurricane watch
Micro- and Macroeconomic Implications of Heterogeneity in the Production of Human Capital
We derive a tractable nonlinear earnings function that we estimate separately individual by individual using NLSY79 data. We obtain three ability measures, a rate of skill depreciation, a time discount rate, and a population-wide estimate of the human capital rental rate. We utilize these parameters to verify a number of heretofore untested theorems based on the life cycle model. We show how these human capital production function parameters rela…
The long-term health impact of Agent Orange
China’s one-child exemptions and the spousal age gap
This paper examines the impact of exemptions to China’s 1979 One-Child Policy on fertility and the spousal age gap. The exemptions, implemented at different times across provinces, created exogenous variation that we exploit using a staggered Difference-in-Differences design. Our analysis uses the 2010 China Family Panel Studies and focuses on couples with rural hukou status, who were most affected by these exemptions during the study period. We …
Economics (20 works) · Earnings (8 works) · Labour economics (8 works) · Economic growth (7 works) · Finance (7 works) · Labor market dynamics and wage inequality (7 works) · Political science (7 works) · Demographic economics (6 works) · Finance (6 works) · Geography (6 works)