Arindrajit Dube

Assistant Professor

Department of Economics

1030 Thompson Hall

University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Amherst, MA 01003

adube@econs.umass.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Research Fellow: IZA

 

Biography

I am a labor economist by training, and focus on labor, health, other applied micro topics, as well as empirical political economy. I received my BA in Economics and MA in Development Policy from Stanford University, and my Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago. Prior to joining UMass, I held a Research Economist position at the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at University of California, Berkeley.  I am currently also a Research Fellow at IZA.

 

Some of my Current Research Projects

·       Identifying effects of fiscal policy using spatial methods (with Ethan Kaplan)

·       Minimum wage changes in cross-state labor markets (commuting zones) - how do they affect labor search behavior and cross border flows, commuting patterns? (with Michael Reich and Sylvia Allegretto)

·       Effect of nurse organizing on patient outcomes (with Ethan Kaplan)

Some of my past work includes studying the effects of minimum wages using spatial discontinuities at state borders; how outsourcing of labor services changed wages and benefits in service occupations; whether shared compensation policies (profit sharing, gain sharing) are complementary with shared decision making systems (e.g., Employee Involvement committees); the transformation of retail labor market through the entry of big box retailers like Wal-Mart; how trade and capital mobility affects the labor market.

 

Working papers

“Do Frictions Matter in the Labor Market? Accessions, Separations and Minimum Wage Effects” with T. William Lester and Michael Reich.

IZA Discussion Paper available here.

“The Labor Market Impact of Employer Health Benefit Mandates: Evidence from San Francisco's Health Care Security Ordinance” with Carrie H. Colla and William H. Dow.

NBER Working Paper available here.

“Cross-border Spillover: U.S. Gun Laws and Violence in Mexico” with Oeindrila Dube and Omar David Garcia Ponce.

 “Spatial Heterogeneity and Minimum Wages: Employment Estimates for Teens Using Cross-State Commuting Zones” with Michael Reich and Sylvia Allegretto.

“Firm Entry and Wages: Impact of Wal-Mart Growth on Earnings Throughout the Retail Sector” with T. William Lester and Barry Eidlin.

 

Published articles and book chapters

“Coups, Corporation and Classified Information” with Ethan Kaplan and Suresh Naidu. Quarterly Journal of Economics, forthcoming.

NBER Working Paper available here. See Slate Article on the Paper here.

“How Do Employers React to a Pay-or-Play Mandate? Early Evidence from San Francisco" with Carrie H. Colla and William Dow.  Forum for Health Economics and Policy, 2011 (Vol. 14: Iss. 2.)

    NBER Working Paper available here.

“Do Minimum Wages Really Reduce Teen Employment? Accounting for Heterogeneity and Selectivity in State Panel Data”  with Sylvia Allegretto and Michael Reich. Industrial Relations, March 2011.

“Minimum Wage Effects Across State Borders: Estimates Using Contiguous Counties” with T. William Lester and Michael Reich. Review of Economics and Statistics, October 2010.

“Does Outsourcing Reduce Wages in the Low-Wage Service Occupations? Evidence from Janitors and Guards,” with Ethan Kaplan. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, January 2010.

"Complementarity of Shared Compensation and Decision-Making Systems: Evidence from the American Labor Market" with Richard Freeman, in Blasi, Kruse and Freeman ed. Economics of Shared Capitalism (NBER Conference Volume: Chicago Press, 2010).
              NBER Working Paper available here.

“The economic impacts of a citywide minimum wage” with Suresh Naidu and Michael Reich. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, July 2007.

“The Hidden Public Cost of Low Wage Jobs in California” with Carol Zabin and Ken Jacobs, State of California Labor 2004, University of California Institute for Labor and Employment, May 2004.

“Aggregate demand externalities and labor supply decisions: Worker discouragement and market inefficiency,” with Ethan Kaplan, Economics Letters, September 1997.

 

Some other writings

A Public Option That Works
Op-Ed in the New York Times
August 21, 2009
William H. Dow, Arindrajit Dube, and Carrie Hoverman Colla

 

“Wal-Mart and Job Quality – What Do We Know, and Should We Care?”  with Steve Wertheim, October 2005.

 “Kids at Risk: Declining Employer-Based Health Coverage in California and the United States: A Crisis for Working Families,” with Ken Jacobs, Sarah Muller, Bob Brownstein, and Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, August 2005.

“Falling Apart: How Adults are Faring in the Crisis of Job-Based Health Insurance in California and the United States,” with Ken Jacobs, Sarah Muller, Bob Brownstein, and Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, June 2005.

 “Hidden Cost of Wal-Mart Jobs,” with Ken Jacobs, August 2004.

“Research Brief: Productivity Impact of Health Care Reform in California,”  2003.

“2003 California Establishment Survey: Preliminary Results on Employer Based Healthcare Reform,” with Michael Reich, 2003.

“Paid Family Leave in California: An Analysis of Costs and Benefits,”  with Ethan D. Kaplan, 2002.