I should add a word about the real David Neumark, since I knew him slightly
at Michigan State. He is the #1 labor economist in the econ department
there, which means he is crucial to personnel decisions, research
applications, etc. in that field (at that school). He is fairly typical of
"star" research economists, in that he identifies primarily with what he
sees as his intellectual mastery of theory and econometric methods, and has
no conscious commitment to any political position -- which is not to say
that there are no implicit politics in his work.
He was funded in his minimum wage work by a trade group representing
restaurants, and was caught up on problems with a data set they provided
him. I don't know whether he came to see it as the scandal that many other
mainstream labor economists did. Other people can fill in details here.
When I left he was just completing work on discrimination and productivity.
His "contribution" was to use "white male labor", "black female labor", etc.
as separate inputs into aggregate production function analysis, determine
the productivity ratios between the groups, and compare them to the
corresponding wage differentials. He concluded that, while both women and
black men are "less productive" than white men, only women's wage
differential exceeds their productivity differential. At a seminar, I asked
him whether it was possible that his productivity differences reflected
discrimination in the jobs given to different demographic groups rather than
their intrinsic human capital. He replied rather testily that this is not
how economists think about such things. He might be right about that.
Honestly, if David Neumark has changed his views on the minimum wage, it
really would be no big deal. He is ready to embrace any result produced by
the right theory, the right data set, and the right methods, given what
"right" means in this context.
Peter
Michael Perelman wrote:
> Does anybody here know David Neumark of Michigan State? The recent
> issue of business week says that he has changed his mind about living
> wage policies, and perhaps even the minimum wage -- the magazine was not
> clear.
>
> Neumark was publishing stuff for a policy front for the fast food
> industry. Some studies at EPI pretty well demolished it, but most
> economists would regroup and explain away the problems.
>
> Is this really a case of an economist learning and changing his mind?
> If so, it would be a remarkable event.
>
> --
> Michael Perelman
> Economics Department
> California State University
> Chico, CA 95929
>
> Tel. 530-898-5321
> E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
