Volume 15, Number 4 (Fall) 1980
Robins, Philip K., and Richard W. West. 1980. "Labor-Supply Response Over Time." Journal of Human Resources 15(4):524-544.
This study uses longitudinal data from the Seattle and Denver Income Maintenance Experiments to estimate a partial-adjustment model of labor-supply response. It is assumed that as a result of the experimental treatments, a person changes desired hours of work. The new desired hours of work are estimated empirically along with the speed at which the adjustment takes place. The results indicate that the financial treatments reduce desired hours of work by 9 percent for husbands, by 20 percent for wives, and by 25 percent for single female heads of families. The estimated time periods required for 90 percent adjustment are 2.4 years for husbands, 3.6 years for wives, and 4.5 years for single female heads. Tests are performed for differences in response by ethnicity, site, and experimental duration. The results indicate larger reductions in desired hours of work for blacks and Chicanos (relative to whites), for persons in Denver (relative to persons in Seattle), and for persons on the five-year programs (relative to persons on the three-year programs). Only in the case of husbands, however, are the ethnic, site, and duration differences statistically significant.
The authors are economists with SRI International. The research reported in this paper was performed under contracts with the States of Washington and Colorado, prime contractors for the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare under contract numbers HEW-100-78-0005 and HEW-100-78-0004, respectively. The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and should not be construed as representing the opinions or policies of the States of Washington or Colorado or any agency of the United States government. The authors wish to acknowledge valuable discussions with Karl Jöreskog who was a collaborator during the early stages of this research and whose computer program LISREL was used in the empirical analysis. Michael Keeley and John Pencavel gave useful comments on an earlier version of the paper and Paul McElherne, Gary Stieger, and Richard C. Williams provided expert programming assistance.
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