Category Archives: Labour Economics

A tired old story

Posted on April 13, 2010 by andrewleigh

My op-ed today is on the economics of sleep. Full text over the fold.

Posted in Health economics, Labour Economics | 1 Comment

A randomised experiment to test for gender discrimination

Posted on January 22, 2010 by andrewleigh

Alison Booth and I have a new paper out, in which we test for gender discrimination in hiring by randomly sending fake CVs to apply for jobs in female-dominated occupations (waitstaff, data-entry, customer service, and sales). These occupations are about … Continue reading →

Posted in Labour Economics | 8 Comments

Look at the changes, not at the levels (Part II)

Posted on January 12, 2010 by andrewleigh

I have a new paper out that looks at the causal impact of caring for an elderly or disabled person. A pretty large literature has suggested that carers suffer large penalties in employment, wages and happiness. But the problem with … Continue reading →

Posted in Econometrics, Labour Economics | 2 Comments

Happiness, Love, Money, and Sex

Posted on December 15, 2009 by andrewleigh

My AFR op-ed today discusses two happiness papers by Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers. Full text over the fold.

Posted in Economics of the Family, Labour Economics, Macroeconomics | 2 Comments

You can’t teach an old Beatle new tricks

Posted on November 23, 2009 by andrewleigh

I wrote an op-ed a few months ago about David Galenson’s work on creative life cycles in art, poetry, novel-writing, movie-making and architecture. Now he’s turned his hand to pop music. Abstract below. Innovators: Songwriters (gated link, sorry) David Galenson … Continue reading →

Posted in Labour Economics | Comments Off

Conference on Intergenerational Mobility

Posted on October 9, 2009 by andrewleigh

On Monday 30 November, I’m running a conference at ANU on ‘The Economics of Intergenerational Mobility’. This is an area I’ve been interested in since 2007, when I wrote what I’m pretty sure was the first paper estimating the intergenerational … Continue reading →

Posted in Development Economics, Econometrics, Economics of Education, Economics of the Family, Health economics, Inequality, Labour Economics, Tax | Comments Off

Journalism by the Numbers

Posted on October 7, 2009 by andrewleigh

It’s terrific to see journalists doing investigative work to dig out interesting numbers. Two recent examples. On the weekend, Michael Duffy (not, not that one) estimated for the SMH that Australian drug prohibition costs A$4.7 billion annually. Although it’s in … Continue reading →

Posted in Health economics, Labour Economics, Law | 5 Comments

Time to take your daughter to the casino

Posted on September 18, 2009 by andrewleigh

My colleague Alison Booth has an article in VoxEU on gender, risk and competition (I blogged on part of this research agenda recently). Some snippets. Gender differences in risk aversion and competition, it is sometimes argued, may help explain some … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics of Education, Economics of the Family, Labour Economics | 1 Comment

The Economics of Leadership

Posted on September 10, 2009 by andrewleigh

Ed Lazear, who does personnel economics (and happens to be one of the best communicators in the profession) is speaking at ANU on 1 October. Details below, flyer here.

Posted in Coming Events, Labour Economics | Comments Off

The Economics of Sex Work

Posted on September 8, 2009 by andrewleigh

My oped today is on the economics of sex work. For the most part, researching the piece involved reading other people’s work. But there did come a point when I realised that while the Australian Bureau of Statistics has an … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics of the Family, Labour Economics, Law | 9 Comments

The Age of Innovation

Posted on June 30, 2009 by andrewleigh

For not-so-surprising reasons, I’ve been thinking lately about lifecycles. My AFR op-ed today (partially written with a newborn babe in the crook of my arm) is on age and creativity. Full text over the fold.

Posted in Labour Economics | 8 Comments

Discrimination study

Posted on June 17, 2009 by andrewleigh

Alison Booth, Elena Varganova and I have just released a study comprising three experiments to gauge racial and ethnic discrimination in Australia. Does Racial and Ethnic Discrimination Vary Across Minority Groups? Evidence From Three Experiments Alison Booth, Andrew Leigh & … Continue reading →

Posted in Labour Economics | 20 Comments

Say aaargh

Posted on June 12, 2009 by andrewleigh

I’ve always been interested in the dentists’ decision to support water fluoridation – one of the few examples of medicos campaigning for a policy change that really hurt their economic interests (unlike, for example, the Australian Medical Association, which among … Continue reading →

Posted in Health economics, Labour Economics | 2 Comments

What happens to the Australian labour market in recessions?

Posted on June 8, 2009 by andrewleigh

Jeff Borland has a splendid article (gated, sorry) in the latest Australian Economic Review on what happens to the labour market in recessions. From it, I learned: 1. The impact across industries differs greatly. In past recessions, employment tends to … Continue reading →

Posted in Labour Economics | Comments Off

More on body size

Posted on June 4, 2009 by andrewleigh

Michael Kortt and I have a descriptive paper in the 4th HILDA statistical report (pp180-187), discussing correlates of body size among Australian adults. A few snippets: Comparing across states and territories, we find relatively few systematic differences for men. However, … Continue reading →

Posted in Labour Economics | 1 Comment

A Share of the Action?

Posted on June 2, 2009 by andrewleigh

My oped today is on employee share ownership, drawing on a series of papers by Richard Freeman and his band of coauthors. Full text over the fold.

Posted in Labour Economics | 1 Comment

ESOP’s fables

Posted on May 22, 2009 by andrewleigh

In the context of the feisty share ownership debate, I thought it might be worth posting two 2008 economics papers on the topic. My quick read of the evidence: employee ownership exposes workers to more risk (if the firm goes … Continue reading →

Posted in Labour Economics | 3 Comments

Tall Story

Posted on May 18, 2009 by andrewleigh

Michael Kortt and I have a new paper out, looking at the relationship between body size and wages. Here’s the abstract (click on the title for the full paper): Does Size Matter in Australia? Michael Kortt & Leigh We estimate … Continue reading →

Posted in Labour Economics | 5 Comments