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"Procurement projects often encounter unanticipated problems. Deadlines and penalties are one important instrument used to incentivize contractors to adapt their plans. We develop a theory of highway procurement in which contractors must modify their construction rate following a productivity shock. We model how time incentives affect the work rate and time taken, characterizing the efficient contract design. Using new micro-level data from Minnesota that includes day-by-day information on work plans, actual outcomes and delays, we find strong evidence supporting the theory. As an application, we build an econometric model that endogenizes adaptation, and simulate how different incentive structures affect outcomes and the variance of contractor payments. Accounting for the traffic delays caused by construction, switching to a more efficient design would substantially increase welfare without substantially increasing risk"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site

Working as an Australian hospital Social Worker during a major viral pandemic was always going to be an unpredictable and rapidly evolving experience. We knew the COVID-19 virus was coming, within weeks it had arrived, and Australian society transformed overnight. With so much rapid loss and change our sense of mastery over our lives was quickly lost. Health services and individuals alike battled to prepare, to understand, and to make meaning in a new world. It was an opportunity to seek meaning in literatures both professional and artistic.

Since Akerlof (1970), economists have understood the adverse selection problem that information asymmetries can create in used goods markets. The remarkable growth in online used goods auctions thus poses a puzzle. Part of the solution is that sellers voluntarily disclose their private information on the auction web page. This defines a precise contract -- to deliver the car shown for the closing price -- which helps protect the buyer from adverse selection. I test this theory using data from eBay Motors, finding that online disclosures are important price determinants, and that disclosure costs impact both the level of disclosure and prices. (JEL D44, D82, L81)

Does the social work labor force reflect the field's commitment to social and economic justice? Using individual-level census data for 1980–2014 on self-identified social workers and on other college graduates in college-majority occupations, this article finds three key patterns. First, representation of women, blacks, and Latinx in social work is high and growing, greatly exceeding that in most of these other occupations. Second, white men continue to earn more than comparable women, blacks, and Latinx, but gender/racial/ethnic pay disparities in social work have dropped by half or more since 1980 and are far smaller than in most other occupations. Third, social workers earn substantially less than comparable employees in other occupations, and the pay disadvantage is growing. That low pay, however, may contribute to both the diversity and relative pay equity in social work.

ABSTRACTDespite some stakeholders' concerns about the practical value of an undergraduate degree in political science, our graduates actually do quite well in the labor market. Based on analysis of a sample of 3.4 million college graduates (including 86,000 in political science) from the 2009–2014 American Community Surveys, our majors earn two-thirds more than demographically similar high school graduates if they stop with bachelor's degrees, but they are among the most likely to obtain graduate degrees, especially in law. Only engineering, economics, computer science, and health science majors make at least 10% more than our graduates, who make nearly as much as those who major in business and 10% to 25% more than those who major in most other social sciences and humanities. Political science majors have relatively high unemployment rates in their 20s, however, and may end up in very different occupations than they imagined when they chose political science.

Government preference for military veterans in hiring, a means to honor them for their service and sacrifices, potentially conflicts with other values of the public service, including its diversity and quality. Census data for 1990, 2000, and 2006-2009 show that veterans are at least three times as likely to hold federal jobs as, but only 10% more likely to hold state and local government jobs than, comparable individuals without military service. Veterans' preference has substantially increased the percentage of federal employees who are men and has probably decreased the percentages who are Asians, gay men, and immigrants, but its effects on the composition of state and local governments are small. Federal personnel data for the past decade show that veteran new hires are older and less educated than nonveteran new hires, and that they do not advance as far in the first 15 years of their careers as nonveterans hired into the same grades at the same time, suggesting that veterans' preference may be lowering the performance of the federal service. Adapted from the source document.

According to both the contact hypothesis and gay rights advocates, coming out to straight friends and family members should increase acceptance of homosexuality and support for gay rights. If lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals (LGBs) come out primarily to people they expect to be accepting, however, the repeated finding that people who know LGBs are more likely to support gay rights could be overstating the impact of coming out. Using individual‐level data from 27 national surveys, I find that similar variables predict both knowing LGBs and supporting gay rights, but in different ways. Even after controlling for those demographic, religious, and political variables—and sometimes also for beliefs about whether some people are born gay and whether homosexuality is immoral—people who know LGBs are much more likely to support gay rights. The effect holds for every issue, in every year, for every type of relationship, and for every demographic, religious, and political subgroup.

Why are people with same-sex partners more likely than married people to work for nonprofit organizations (NPOs)? Analysis of 2000 Census data suggests that smaller gay–straight pay disparities for men in the nonprofit sector, occupational choices, and ability to afford nonprofit employment explain some overrepresentation of partnered gay men but not of partnered lesbians. Even after controlling for all these factors, people with same-sex partners remain more likely than married people to work for NPOs, suggesting that a strong desire to serve others is an important factor.