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Francine D. Blau

Frances Perkins Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations and Professor of Economics, Cornell University
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About Francine

Blau has written extensively on gender issues; wage inequality; immigration; and international comparisons of labor market outcomes. She serves as a Research Associate of the NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research); and a Research Fellow of IZA (Institute for the Study of Labor); CESIfo (Institute for Economic Research); and DIW (German Institute for Economic Research).

Contributions | No Jargon Podcast | Member Spotlight | In the News | Publications

Contributions

Why Do American Women Continue to Earn Less than Men?

  • Francine D. Blau
Key Findings Brief,

In the News

Quoted by Liz Kennedy and Vikram Singh in "Drivers of Authoritarian Populism in the United States," Center for American Progress, May 10, 2018.
Research discussed by Maggie Koerth-Baker, in "The Pay Gap is Way Too Entrenched to be Solved by Women Alone,", April 10, 2018.
Research discussed by Stacey Vanek Smith and Cardiff Garcia, in "Mind the Pay Gap," NPR, April 9, 2018.
Research discussed by Claire Cain Miller, in "Children Hurt Women’s Earnings, but Not Men’s (Even in Scandinavia)," New York Times, February 5, 2018.
Opinion: "Analysis: Why Women Continue to Make Less Than Men," Francine D. Blau (with Lawrence Kahn), PBS News Hour, September 29, 2017.

Publications

At Home and Abroad: US Labor Market Performance in International Perspective (with Francine D. Blau). (Russell Sage Foundation, 2002).

Discusses the relationship between different economic responses and outcomes

"The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Sources" (with Francine D. Blau). Journal of Economic Literature 55, no. 3 (2017): 789-865.

Provides new empirical evidence on the extent of and trends in the gender wage gap, which declined considerably over the period between 1980 and 2010.

"Is There Still Son Preference in the United States?" (with Francine D. Blau), The National Bureau of Economic Research, September 2017.

Uses 2008-2013 American Community Survey data to update and further probe Dahl and Moretti’s (2008) son preference results, which found evidence that having a female first child increased the probability of single female headship and raised fertility.

"Chapter 15: Immigration and the Distribution of Incomes" (with Francine D. Blau) in Handbook of the Economics of International Migration, edited by Barry R. Chiswick, Paul W. Miller, (Elsevier B.V., 2015), 793-843.

review research on the impact of immigration on income distribution, surveying studies from a variety of countries. Immigration may affect the skill composition of a country's residents and also, by changing relative factor supplies, its relative factor prices. 

At Home and Abroad: US Labor Market Performance in International Perspective (with Francine D. Blau). (Russell Sage Foundation, 2002).
"Gender Differences in Pay" (with Francine D. Blau). American Economic Association 14, no. 4 (2000): 75-99.

 Considers the gender pay gap in the United States. Both gender-specific factors, including gender differences in qualifications and discrimination, and overall wage structure, the rewards for skills and employment in particular sectors, importantly influence the gender pay gap.