Includes index.

Did trade liberalization help women? The case of Mexico in the 1990s / Ernesto Aguayo-Tellez ... [et al.] -- The short-term effects of the Kalamazoo promise scholarship on student outcomes / Timothy J. Bartik, Marta Lachowska -- The impact of wage dispersion on labor productivity : evidence from Finnish workers / Laura Arranz-Aperte -- Tenure, wage profiles and monitoring / John G. Sessions, Nikolaos Theodoropoulos -- Are dangerous jobs paid better? European evidence / Nikolaos Georgantzis, Efi Vasileiou -- Involuntary unemployment and efficiency-wage competition / Marco Guerrazzi -- Playing hard to get : theory and evidence on layoffs, recalls, and unemployment / Núria Rodríguez-Planas -- Economic and health implications of long-term unemployment: earnings, disability benefits, and mortality / Kenneth A. Couch ... [et al.].

This volume contains new important research on worker well-being in a changing economy. Topics include employee compensation, human capital investment, womens wages, unemployment, and the effects of government policies. Among the questions answered are: Does free-trade (particularly regarding NAFTA) affect womens wages relative to mens? Can guaranteeing college scholarships raise high school students grade-point averages? Does increasing wage dispersion within a plant induce workers to put out more effort; or does it decrease commradery among employees, thereby lowering productivity? Does deferring worker pay really affect productivity on the job? Do firms manipulate fringe benefits (job characteristics) to adequately compensate workers for dangerous jobs? Do business cycles influence the terms of effort-enhancing labor contracts? How can workers signal their potential quality when displaced by plant closings? How severe are the detrimental effects of long-term joblessness? And finally, how do changes in welfare laws affect recipients time allocation at home?

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