Papers by Topic

Inequality and Technological Change

Inequality and Specialization: The Growth of Low-Skill Service Jobs in the United States
David Autor and David Dorn
July 2008 (revised from August 2007)

Trends in U.S. Wage Inequality: Revising the Revisionists
David H. Autor, Lawrence F. Katz and Melissa S. Kearney
May 2008, Review of Economics and Statistics

Structural Demand Shifts and Potential Labor Supply Responses in the
New Century
David Autor
September 2007, Prepared for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Conference on
“Labor Supply in the New Century”

The Polarization of the U.S. Labor Market
David H. Autor, Lawrence F. Katz and Melissa S. Kearney
January 2006, American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings, 96(2), May 2006, 189 - 194.

Rising Wage Inequality: The Role of Composition and Prices
David H. Autor, Lawrence F. Katz and Melissa S. Kearney
August 2005, Revised from December 2004

Women, War and Wages: The Effect of Female Labor Supply on the Wage Structure at Mid-Century
David Autor, Daron Acemoglu and David Lyle
June 2004, Journal of Political Economy, 112(3)

The Skill Content of Recent Technological Change: An Empirical Exploration
David H. Autor, Frank Levy and Richard J. Murname
November 2003, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118(4)

Upstairs, Downstairs: Computers and Skills on Two Floors of a Large Bank
David Autor, Frank Levy and Richard J. Murname
April 2002, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 55 (3)

Wiring the Labor Market
David H. Autor
Winter 2001, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 15(1)

Computing Inequality: Have Computers Changed the Labor Market?
David Autor, Lawrence Katz and Alan Krueger
Quarterly Journal of Economics, 113 (4), November 1998, 1169-1214.

 

Labor Market Intermediation

Does Job Testing Harm Minority Workers? Evidence from Retail Establishments
David H. Autor and David Scarborough
February 2008, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 123(1), 219-277

Do Temporary Help Jobs Improve Labor Market Outcomes for Low-Skilled Workers? Evidence from 'Work First'
David H. Autor and Susan N. Houseman
January 2008

Temporary Agency Employment as a Way out of Poverty?
David H. Autor and Susan N. Houseman
August 2005, Forthcoming in Working but Poor: How Economic and Policy Changes are Affecting Low-Wage Workers, edited by Rebecca Blank, Sheldon Danziger, and Robert Schoeni

Why Do Temporary Help Firms Provide Free General Skills Training?
David Autor
November 2003, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 116 (4), (full text available; not copywritten).

Oursourcing at Will: The Contribution of Unjust Dismissal Doctrine to the Growth of Employment Outsourcing
David Autor
January 2003, Journal of Labor Economics, 2003, 21(1)  

Do Temporary Help Jobs Improve Labor Market Outcomes? A Pilot Analysis with Welfare Clients
David H. Autor and Susan N. Houseman
December 2002

Skills Training in the Temporary Help Sector: Employer Motivations and Worker Impacts
David Autor, Frank Levy and Richard J. Murname
September 1999

Disability and Labor Force Participation 

Distinguishing Income from Substitution Effects in Disability Insurance
David Autor and Mark Duggan
May 2007, American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings

The Growth in the Social Security Disability Rolls: A Fiscal Crisis Unfolding
David H. Autor and Mark G. Duggan
Summer 2006, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 20(3), Summer 2006, 71-96.

The Rise in the Disability Rolls and the Decline in Unemployment
David H. Autor and Mark G. Duggan
February 2003, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118(1)

Labor Market Impacts of Wrongful Discharge Protections 

Do Employment Protections Reduce Productivity? Evidence from US States
David H. Autor, William R. Kerr and Adriana D. Kugler
June 2007, Economics Journal

The Costs of Wrongful-Discharge Laws
David Autor, John Donohue III and Stewart Schwab
May 2006, The Review of Economics and Statistics, 88(2), May 2006, 211 - 231.

The Employment Consequences of Wrongful-Discharge Laws: Large, Small, or None at All?
David H. Autor, John J. Donohue III and Stewart J. Schwab
May 2004, American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings, 93(2)

Outsourcing at Will: The Contribution of Unjust Dismissal Doctrine to the Growth of Employment Outsourcing
David Autor
January 2003, Journal of Labor Economics, 2003, 21(1)