Janice F. Madden, Ph.D.

My research deals with the influence of demographics and/or spatial structure on the workings of the labor market, concentrating on the study of discrimination and of spatial immobility in the labor market. My research can be grouped into the following topics: (1) the influence of discrimination and of government policies to eliminate discrimination on labor market outcomes; (2) the extent and effects of spatial immobility in local labor markets; and (3) differences in growth in income and earnings inequality in American cities.

Discrimination

I have developed a theory of sex discrimination in the labor market assuming that women face an imperfectly competitive labor market. I have used a variety of national data sets to quantify the extent of discrimination in the labor market. I have argued that co-worker discrimination makes women and members of minority groups less effective workers in a variety of jobs requiring team, rather than individual, efforts.  In recent papers, I have analyzed the effects of the National Football League’s policies on the racial composition of its coaching staff.

Spatial Immobility

I have studied geographic immobility within urban labor markets--i.e., differences arising from commuting and access to residential locales. My work in this area simultaneously considers both commuting and residential mobility as necessary to the study of intrametropolitan mobility. I have developed several related models of household location decision making and empirically estimated the effects of location on employment and of employment on location in a variety of situations.

Inequality within Metropolitan Areas

I have measured income distribution, poverty and poverty concentration changes within metropolitan areas, finding that household formation patterns are important contributors to the distribution of household income. While local labor market conditions have greater effects, the demographic structure is almost as important, and explains a substantial proportion of the variation across metropolitan areas in income inequality.  I have examined the spatial concentration of poverty and income in the suburbs of large American cities finding little evidence of a growing spatial concentration of income or poverty among suburbs, certainly not of the magnitude that has occurred in the central city relative to the suburbs.  In recent papers, I have analyzed connections between segregation by income and segregation by race in America’s large metro areas.

In addition, I am currently working on:

·         Sources of gender differentials in compensation among stockbrokers. 

·         Explanations for the narrower gender wage gap among gays and lesbians than among heterosexuals.