Human capital and history: the American record.

• Position: Conferences - Conference notes

An NBER Conference on "Human Capital and History: The American Record" took place in Cambridge on December 7 and 8, 2012. NBER Research Associates Leah Boustan of the University of California, Los Angeles, and Robert Margo of Boston University, and NBER Faculty Research Fellow Carola Frydman of Boston University, organized the program. These papers were discussed:

* Lawrence Katz, Harvard University and NBER, and Robert Margo, "Technical Change and the Relative Demand for Skilled Labor: The United States in Historical Perspective"

* Edward Glaeser, Harvard University and NBER, "Urbanization and Human Capital Formation in American History"

* Claudia Olivetti, Boston University and NBER, "The Female Labor Force and Long-run Development: The American Experience in Comparative Perspective"

* Martha Bailey, University of Michigan and NBER; Melanie Guldi, University of Central Florida; and Brad Hershbein, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, "Two Twentieth Century Fertility Transitions: Implications for Human Capital"

* Shelly Lundberg, University of California, Santa Barbara, and Robert Pollak, Washington University in St. Louis and NBER, "The Uneven Retreat from Marriage in the U.S., 1950-2010"

* Nora Gordon, Georgetown University and NBER, "Explaining Trends in High School Graduation: The Changing Elementary and Secondary Education Policy Landscape and Income Inequality over the Last Half Century"

* Hoyt Bleakley, University of Chicago and NBER, and Dora Costa and Adriana Lleras-Muney, University of California, Los Angeles...