Social protection systems are intended to support households in financial difficulties, a role that has been underlined during the recent Great Recession in many countries around the world. This volume presents new results on the dynamics of social assistance, minimum-income and related out-of-work benefits in a range of different country contexts. It contains eight original articles, which shed light on benefit spell durations, the movements into and out of receipt of safety net benefits, the individual or family characteristics associated with these movements, the extent of state dependence or 'scarring', and the interaction of various welfare programs. The results establish an evidence base for an informed policy debate in a range of OECD countries. They also provide methodological background for future work on benefit receipt patterns.

This 50th Celebratory Research in Labor Economics volume contains ten original and innovative articles each written by stellar senior scholars in labor economics, including a Nobel Laureate. Each article deals with an aspect of worker well-being addressing questions such as: What can epidemiologists learn from search and matching models? What advanced degrees yield the highest returns? How do occupational and safety risks on the job affect earnings? What are best practices in estimating gender discrimination? Has technology exacerbated the widening earnings distribution? How have bureaucrats overregulated the economy? Did Right to Work laws really decrease unionization? Why were undocumented immigrants able to return to work faster than natives during Covid-19? And, how does a husband's death impact a widow's use of time at home?

How immigrants and their descendants fare in the host society and in particular in the labor market is a very important question. While differences among ethnicities have been found to be marked and persistent within many host countries, and while the labor market consequences of diversity have been recognized, they have not been sufficiently examined. This volume contains fresh knowledge to help better understand the complex relationship between ethnic or minority groups, the role of ethnic identity and their disparate economic performance; 12 papers that individually and collectively go to the heart of this question. Offering a new paradigm, they tackle and interlink four important themes of immigrants' integration: ethnic identity, citizenship, interethnic marriages, and immigrant entrepreneurship. These papers offer insights and answers to challenging questions for six different immigration countries while they study countless different ethnic and immigrant groups. It is the aim of this volume to bring the role of ethnic identity in the forefront of scientific and political discussion and provide a link among these themes, anticipating new trends and directions in this area. An anthology of these questions is: Does ethnic identity affect the employment and earnings of immigrant groups and in what way? Does dual nationality affect assimilation? To what extent do social interactions determine the employment outcomes of ethnic minorities? Why do Mexican-Americans exhibit low self-employment rates? Which are the factors that influence the composition of the workforce in terms of ethnic-background? Do interethnic marriages influence transitions into and out of ethnic self-employment? And, are interethnic marriages a guarantee to high human capital achievement of their offsprings?

How firms are structured, the management practices they develop, as well as the way in which workers and managers interact can have wider implications for both the performance of the firm and the well-being of its workers. This volume contains ten original and innovative articles that investigate aspects related to workplace practices and productivity. Topics include the role of employee voice in the workplace, the link between unions, innovation and firms' investment, the relationship between job autonomy and hierarchy, the impact of personnel policies on firm performance, the consequences of incentives through discrete bonus compensation schemes for learning on the job, the repercussions of firm downsizing on worker's performance, the individual returns to entrepreneurship, the impact of private tutoring on college attendance, and the measurement of labor market transitions.

How do changes at home, in the labor market and on the job affect worker well-being? This volume of Research in Labor Economics contains eight original and insightful articles answering this question. Seven deal with demographic and labor market change, and one deals with wage differences essentially at a point in time. Of the seven, two articles analyze changes in family related matters and have implications regarding labor supply; two examine legislative changes, one of which has implications on teenage employment, and the other on informal business formation; one looks at potential productivity changes on farms in a developing country and has implications for remaining on the family farm or going to work; one models wage growth and shows why wages sometimes fall as one remains in a job longer; and finally, one investigates new enterprise formation over time.

The 2008 global financial and economic crisis led to a significant increase in unemployment rates in most developed economies, yet despite the rising supply of labor, a high share of employers claim that they cannot find the right talent and skills. Concerns that economic restructuring and changing skill needs associated with new technologies and workplace organization practices will not be met by an adequately skilled workforce, has placed the issue of skill mismatch - the incongruence between skill supply and skill demand - high up in the policy agenda. This volume contains eleven original research articles which deal with the linkages between education and skills and the causes and consequences of different types of skill mismatch. Topics include the way graduate jobs can be defined, the labor market decisions and outcomes of graduates, the determinants of the overeducation wage penalty, the determinants and consequences of underskilling, the wage return of skills, the impact of skill mismatch on aggregate productivity, and the role of work-related training and job complexity on skill development.

Research in Labor Economics 44 takes another in-depth and focussed look at Inequality. This time however it is tied in with well-being of the workforce. Research in Labor Economics volume 44 contains new and innovative research on the causes and consequences of inequality and well-being of the work force.

Inequality has been rising in many countries over the last decades and the process seems to have accelerated with the Great Recession. Not only is income distribution more unequal today than 40 years ago, but also its transmission through generations has increased. In other words, many countries no longer experience upward economic mobility as was prevalent in the past. Research in Labor Economics volume 43 contains new and innovative research on the causes and consequences of inequality. Topics include the way inequality is measured, the level of equal opportunities across countries, the impact of education, the effect of changing occupational structure, the consequences of changing productivity within the firm, the roles of stagnating average real wages, the decline of union membership, the effect of maternal labor supply on labor market outcomes of their children, and the link between income inequality and health.

Why in 2015 are there still large gender differences in economic success? This volume consists of a set of state of the art research articles to answer this question. Focus areas include educational attainment, financial risk management, bargaining power, social mobility, and intergenerational transfers in the US and abroad.

For most countries, women's labor force participation and hours of work has risen while men's have fallen. Concomitantly, men's and women's wages and occupational structures have been converging. This volume contains new and innovative research on issues related to gender convergence in the labor market. Topics include patterns in lifetime work, earnings and human capital investment, the gender wage gap, gender complementarities, career progression, the gender composition of top management and the role of parental leave policies. Among the questions answered are: Do the levels of and returns to human capital change over the last 50 years in the US? Can the shorter fecundity horizon for females (a biological constraint) explain the division of labor in the home and the resulting wage gap? Does skill-biased technological change favor women's wages more than men's? Do care sector jobs incur a wage penalty? What impact does this have on firm and employee outcomes? Does the glass-ceiling faced by women in top management relate to fertility and parental leave policies and having children? And finally, are men and women complements or substitutes in the labor market?

This volume contains new important research on worker well-being. Topics include employment contracts, compensation schemes, worker productivity, retirement decisions, the demographic transition, time allocation, and child labor. Among the questions answered are: How important is incentive pay in increasing worker productivity? Does monitoring productivity affect a worker's earnings trajectory? How is the decision to retire different in two-earner families compared to one-earner families? How did the evolution of the family affect men's and women's proclivities to work? Do welfare subsidies encourage recipients to spend additional productive time with their children? Can property titles (land reform) affect child labor in less developed country settings?

This volume contains new important research on worker well-being in a changing economy. Topics include employee compensation, human capital investment, women's wages, unemployment, and the effects of government policies. Among the questions answered are: Does free-trade (particularly regarding NAFTA) affect women's wages relative to men's? Can guaranteeing college scholarships raise high school students' grade-point averages? Does increasing wage dispersion within a plant induce workers to put out more effort; or does it decrease comradery among employees, thereby lowering productivity? Does deferring worker pay really affect productivity on the job? Do firms manipulate fringe benefits (job characteristics) to adequately compensate workers for dangerous jobs? Do business cycles influence the terms of effort-enhancing labor contracts? How can workers signal their potential quality when displaced by plant closings? How severe are the detrimental effects of long-term joblessness? And finally, how do changes in welfare laws affect recipients' time allocation at home?

After three decades of economic reform, China is experiencing substantial demographic changes and a steady structural transformation toward a market economy. These phenomena pose major challenges for the Chinese labor market, which are at the center of the booming academic and policy research in recent years. This volume presents fresh knowledge on labor market issues in China. It contains eight original research articles which offer insights and answers to question such as: Which are the most important challenges of the Chinese labor market? How does rural-urban migration affect occupational choice in rural China? Does urban occupational mobility differ across gender? Which is the cost of job displacement in urban labor markets? Is over-qualification affecting the hiring probability across educational groups? How does the social insurance system perform in terms of coverage of urban workers? Which are the incentive problems in the new rural pension program?

This volume contains eight new and innovative research articles relevant to researchers and policy makers. Each chapter deals with an aspect of human welfare and is authored by an expert in the field. One deals with how technological change affects the distribution of earnings, two deal with how workers advance through corporate hierarchy, four deal with how incentives motivate workers, and the final chapter deals with how one immigrant group is far more successful than even the native population. Among the questions answered are: What accounts for the relative rise in skilled worker salaries? Which workers advance more quickly up the corporate ladder? Are workers hired from outside the company as successful as internally promoted workers? Does performance-based pay affect worker absenteeism? Do retirement incentives to workers really help the firm? Do unexpected decreases in retirement income decrease retiree life satisfaction? Do more stringent divorce laws increase cohabitation? What causes immigrants to really succeed in their new country?

Since its inception Research in Labor Economics has published over 350 articles encompassing a wide range of themes and spanning an array of labor economics topics. Authors have ranged from young scholars with much potential to mature leaders in the field, including Nobel Prize and John Bates Clark award winners. Over the years Research in Labor Economics has continued to present important new research in labor economics. It covers themes such as labor supply, work effort, schooling, on-the-job training, earnings distribution, discrimination, migration, and the effects of government policies on worker well-being. It aims to apply economic theory and econometrics to analyze important policy-related questions, often with an international focus. To commemorate Research in Labor Economics's 35th anniversary, this retrospective edition contains 20 of the most influential Research in Labor Economics articles along with new introductory prefatory updates written by the original authors. These new prefaces emphasize recent developments that each article might have inspired and also discuss remaining unanswered questions.

Informality and informal employment are wide-spread and growing phenomena in all regions of the world, in particular in low and middle income economies. A large part of economic activity in these countries is not registered or under-declared and many workers enter employment relationships that do not provide any or only partial protection, work with little or no physical capital, receive low wages and work under conditions that can be hazardous to their health. This volume sheds light on the incidence and persistence of informality and the role of institutions and government regulations. The articles offer insights into issues such as how labor and tax regulations determine the incidence of informality, whether reforms on tax and other regulations can reduce informal employment, to what extent informality occurs as a result of job separations, how persistent is informal employment, how informal employment can be detected and whether migration can be a substitute for informal employment.

This volume contains nine original innovative chapters on worker well-being. Three chapters are on time allocated to work and human capital acquisition, three on aspects of risk in the earnings process, two on migration, and finally one on how tax policies affect poverty. Questions answered include: Are more educated women now opting out of work with a higher probability than in the past? Under what circumstances do young adults allocate non-school time to educational pursuits? How do macroeconomic shocks affect labor force participation rates? Can tax policies alleviate poverty? Are workers compensated adequately for taking risks? Do differences in private and public sector earnings affect mobility between the two sectors? And, do migrant parents affect educational decisions of their offspring?

Economic events such as the recent global economic crisis can have substantial effects on the distribution of resources at the individual and household levels. Identification of appropriate and timely policy responses that support vulnerable groups is hampered by how little is known about the likely patterns of losses early on during the downturn. This volume contains fresh knowledge on the effects of the economic downturn on employment and income distribution. It contains 9 original research papers from both Europe and the US, including illustrations of forward-looking simulation methods that can be used before detailed data on actual household experiences become available. These papers offer new insights into issues such as how wages, employment and incomes are affected by the crisis, which demographic groups are most vulnerable in the recession, how well the welfare system protects the newly unemployed and how consumption and income poverty change over the business cycle.

More than 190 million children under 15 are working in the world today. Academic and policy research on child labor and related questions about how children spend their time in low income countries has boomed in recent years. This volume contains fresh knowledge to help better understand the relationship between child labor and the transition between school and work. It contains 11 original research papers by authors from Africa, Asia, Latin America as well as the United States and Europe. These papers offer insights and answers to issues such as: how to measure child labor; how the returns to education in the adult labor market affect children's school enrollment; how cash transfer programs affect schooling and children's participation in market and non-market activities; how child labor and schooling affect health; why children participate in activities that are labeled worst forms of child labor; how children's time is allocated along gender lines; what role local labor demand plays in shaping the work and schooling decisions of children; and, how many hours of work can be undertaken before negative effects on school attendance are observed.

Volume 19 of "Advances in International Marketing" is quite unique. It features essays in marketing and international business, written by doctoral alumni of Michigan State University. Based on the 2008 symposium held at Michigan State University (MSU), the authors offer personal reflections of the contributions their mentors, peers, and the larger academic community have made to their professional development. These deliberations serve to illustrate how individual research streams, whose foundations were established during the doctoral program, took off and became primary areas of specialization for individual alumni. The collective contribution of MSU doctoral alumni to the fields of international business and innovation/new products is truly remarkable. Such high visibility of MSU alumni in the international business literature undoubtedly is a major reason why MSU continues to receive high marks and rankings in academic circles.

This volume contains 13 new and important never before published chapters covering aspects of the employer-employee relationship. The volume is focused at the academic audience, but is also geared to government and business policy makers worldwide. The chapters use data from the US, Europe, Asia, and the Middle-East to answer a number of vital labor market questions. These include: Why has part-time work increased so dramatically in the 15 European Union countries? What changes in retirement behavior will be expected as countries change pension laws? Why do firms often use fixed-term instead of long-term employment contracts? How do employee work interruptions affect occupational choice? Why do both employers and employees often prefer additional fringe benefits to wage increases? Do academic certifications really signal higher worker quality? How is an individual's work ethic influenced by others in residential neighborhoods? And, why do risky jobs often pay lower wages when one might expect employees need better remuneration to take dangerous jobs?

A country's economic productivity is directly related to the health of its workforce. Thus, how a nation allocates resources to the physical health of its population is of vital importance in establishing the economic well-being of its citizens. This volume contains nine original and innovative articles that investigate the relationship between a nation's health policies, employee health and resulting labor market outcomes. Topics include the direct link between employees' health and wages, the employment impact of an unfavorable health shock, the relationship between job insecurity and a worker's mental health, the effect of career disruptions on already chronically ill workers, the consequences of arbitrary health insurance disenrollments, the impact of reducing publically available sick day benefits, the repercussions of increasing employers' sick pay benefits on absenteeism, the relationship between economic conditions and opioid abuse, and the consequences of parental migration on children's health. For researchers and students of labor economics, or anyone interested in understanding how a country's health policies affect its economic productivity, this volume is a fundamental text.

Understanding the factors that affect how one transitions from school to the labor market and finally to retirement is important both to the individual and to the policy maker. This volume contains seven original and innovative articles that analyze aspects of such labor market transitions. Questions answered include: How did hiring and firing decisions change for blacks and Hispanics relative to whites in the Great Recession? Can redesigning the minimum wage lead to more efficient employment transitions and greater social welfare? What are the factors leading a company to fast-track an employee? How does the number of layers in a company's hierarchical structure affect one's ability to be promoted? Do women gravitate to more socially caring occupations because they care more than men? Does gaming among youth increase math scores more for boys than girls? And, does good health impede one's inclination to retire?

Dale T. Mortensen and Christopher A. Pissarides are the recipients (with Peter Diamond) of the Nobel memorial Prize in Economics 2010. They have made path-breaking contributions to the analysis of markets with search and matching frictions, which account for much of the success of job search theory and the flows approach in becoming a leading tool for microeconomic and macroeconomic analysis of labor markets. Both scientists have gained groundbreaking insights through individual as well as joint research. Consequently, this volume not only features several papers which helped shape the equilibrium search model, including some early contributions which have initiated the research on what is known today as the search and matching model of the labor market, but it also presents a joint paper by the IZA Prize Laureates, which is a complete statement of the equilibrium search and matching model with endogenous job creation and job destruction. As part of the IZA Prize Series, the book presents a selection of their most important work which has highly enriched research on unemployment as an equilibrium phenomenon, on labor market dynamics, and on cyclical adjustment.