Labor Studies.

• Position: Brief Article

The NBER's Program on Labor Studies met in Cambridge on November 3. Program Director Richard B. Freeman and NBER Research Associate Lawrence F. Katz, both of Harvard University, chose these papers for discussion:

Aaron Yelowitz, NBER and University of California, Los Angeles, "Public Housing and Labor Supply" (see "Public Economics" for a description of this paper)

Joshua D. Angrist, NBER and MIT, "Economic and Social Consequences of Imbalanced Sex Ratios: Evidence from America's Second Generation"

Charles C. Brown, NBER and University of Michigan, "Relatively Equal Opportunity in the Armed Forces: Impacts on Children of Military Families"

Orley C. Ashenfelter, NBER and Princeton University, and David Card, NBER and University of California, Berkeley, "How Did the Elimination of Mandatory Retirement Affect Faculty Retirement?"

Steven J. Davis, NBER and University of Chicago, and Paul Willen, University of Chicago, "Occupation-Level Income Shocks and Asset Returns: Their Covariance and Implications for Portfolio Choice" (NBER Working Paper No. 7905)

Brian J. Hall, NBER and Harvard University and Kevin J. Murphy, University of Southern California, "Stock Options for Undiversified Executives"

A combination of changing migration patterns and U.S. immigration restrictions resulted in a shift in the male-female balance in many ethnic groups in the early twentieth century. Angrist asks how this change in sex ratios affected the children of immigrants. He finds that higher sex ratios, defined as the number of men per woman, had a large positive impact on the likelihood of marriage for females. More surprising, perhaps, marriage rates among second-generation males were also an increasing function of immigrant sex ratios. This suggests that higher sex ratios also raised male earnings and the incomes of parents with young children. Changes in extended family structure associated with changing sex ratios complicate the interpretation of these findings. On balance, though, the results are consistent with theories in which higher sex ratios increase male competition in the marriage market.

Equal opportunity policy and market forces have made the military a distinctive institution in U.S. society. Blacks are well represented in the military, compared to the civilian sector. Integration of both work groups and housing started earlier and proceded more rapidly in the military. And, unlike many civilian jobs, the military provides medical care for both...