About

James L Medoff is the Meyer Kestnbaum Professor of Labor and Industry at Harvard University. He is associated with the Department of Economics, located in the Littauer Center in Cambridge, MA. His role involves teaching, research, and contributions to the field of labor and industry economics. Further details about his specific research focus, background, or key contributions are not provided on the page.

Research topics

• Economics
• Labour economics
• Business
• Demographic economics
• Political science

Selected publications

• Gazelles

  2019-03-07 · 30 citations

  book-chapterSenior author

  This chapter discusses the very troubling "great American job shortage." It describes the piece's protagonists: the Gazelles. The relative roles of large and small firms are of only modest importance, because most jobs are created by firms that are neither large nor small. In 1993, the average size of a Gazelle firm was 61 employees. Overall, Gazelles employ roughly 20 million Americans. Gazelles are not indifferent regarding where they locate. Cognetics, an economics research firm, has found that Gazelles seek places where skilled workforces want to live and where managers have easy home-to-work commutes. Within cities, Gazelles are, in most cases, moving as far away from the centers as they can get and still be near airports, highways, and universities—to the places Joel Garreau had labeled "edge cities." In the process, they are leaving behind the Americans most in need of employment.

  PublisherDOI

• 3. Layoffs, Discharges and Youth Unemployment

  RePEc: Research Papers in Economics · 2019-12-31 · 6 citations

  preprintSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• ON THE POSITIVE CORRELATION BETWEEN INCOME INEQUALITY AND UNEMPLOYMENT

  2009-01-01

  articleSenior author
  Publisher

• Labor's Capital, Business Confidence, And the Market for Loanable Funds

  RePEc: Research Papers in Economics · 2004-01-01

  preprint1st authorCorresponding

  The market for loanable funds provides a useful framework for determining changes in investment and interest rates. In the United States, a significant source of supply originates from labor in the form of pension assets. However, despite the increased contribution by labor to the supply curve over the past several decades, levels of investment have remained less than robust. Here, we highlight the changes in the demand curve for loanable funds in order to explain the empirical trends. Data series provided by the Conference Board capture the confidence of U. S. business and thus provide a gauge of Keynes’ “animal spirits”—an essential factor in the demand curve shifts. Correlation of the data series with both quarterly changes in real interest rates and quarterly changes in payroll employment offers documentation for these macroeconomic claims.

  Publisher

• NRC Review of Time-Limited Aging Analyses for License Renewal Applications

  2004-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  A license renewal applicant of a U.S. nuclear power plant is required to demonstrate that all the time-limited aging analyses (TLAAs) applicable to the facility are valid for the period of extended operation, or have been projected through the expiration of the period of extended operation, or that the effects of aging associated with the TLAAs will be adequately managed during the period of extended operation. Common to license renewal applications are four TLAAs: (1) reactor vessel (RV) neutron embrittlement analyses, (2) fatigue analyses of ASME Section III metal components, (3) environmental qualification analyses of safety-related electrical equipment, and (4) low-cycle fatigue analyses of reactor coolant pump flywheels. The RV neutron embrittlement analyses include the determination of neutron fluence for the RV at the end of the period of extended operation (end-of-extended-license fluence), and evaluation of the following analyses that are based on the end-of-extended-license fluence: drop in Charpy upper-shelf energy, reference temperature for nil-ductility transition, pressure-temperature limits, and BWR vessel circumferential weld examination relief and axial weld failure probability. This paper discusses these four common TLAAs and focuses on the regulatory basis for accepting them as part of the license renewal application; it also discusses the lessons learned from reviewing the license renewal applications.

  PublisherDOI

• Labor's Capital, Business Confidence, and the Market for Loanable Funds

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2004-01-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Firm Age and Wages

  Journal of Labor Economics · 2003-07-01 · 180 citations

  articleSenior author

  We analyze the relationship between how long an employer has been in business (firm age) and wages. Using data from special supplements to the Survey Research Center’s monthly Survey of Consumers, we find that firms that have been in business longer pay higher wages (as previous studies found), but when we control for worker characteristics, the relationship becomes insignificant or negative. There is some evidence that the relationship is not monotonic, with wages falling and then rising with years in business. Established employers appear to make greater use of back‐loaded compensation, consistent with their higher probability of remaining in business.

  PublisherDOI

• Firm Age and Wages

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2001-10-01 · 10 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  In this paper, we analyze the relationship between how long an employer has been in business (firm age) and wages. Using data from special supplements to the Survey Research Center's monthly Survey of Consumers, we find that firms that have been in business longer pay higher wages (as previous studies have found), but pay if anything lower wages after controlling for worker characteristics. There is some evidence that the relationship is not monotonic, with wages falling and then rising with years in business. Older firms provide better fringe benefits and more stable employment, but these differences do not appear very important in understanding the age-wage relationship. Established employers do appear to make greater use of back-loaded compensation, consistent with their higher probability of remaining in business.

  Publisher

• Firm Age and Wages

  National Bureau of Economic Research · 2001-10-01 · 4 citations

  reportOpen accessSenior author

  In this paper, we analyze the relationship between how long an employer has been in business (firm age) and wages. Using data from special supplements to the Survey Research Center's monthly Survey of Consumers, we find that firms that have been in business longer pay higher wages (as previous studies have found), but pay if anything lower wages after controlling for worker characteristics. There is some evidence that the relationship is not monotonic, with wages falling and then rising with years in business. Older firms provide better fringe benefits and more stable employment, but these differences do not appear very important in understanding the age-wage relationship. Established employers do appear to make greater use of back-loaded compensation, consistent with their higher probability of remaining in business.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Firm Age and Wages

  RePEc: Research Papers in Economics · 2001-10-01

  preprintSenior author

  In this paper, we analyze the relationship between how long an employer has been in business (firm age) and wages. Using data from special supplements to the Survey Research Center's monthly Survey of Consumers, we find that firms that have been in business longer pay higher wages (as previous studies have found), but pay if anything lower wages after controlling for worker characteristics. There is some evidence that the relationship is not monotonic, with wages falling and then rising with years in business. Older firms provide better fringe benefits and more stable employment, but these differences do not appear very important in understanding the age-wage relationship. Established employers do appear to make greater use of back-loaded compensation, consistent with their higher probability of remaining in business.

  Publisher

Frequent coauthors

• Katharine G. Abraham

  57 shared

• Richard B. Freeman

  Harvard University

  26 shared

• Richard B. Freeman

  National Bureau of Economic Research

  16 shared

• Charles Brown

  16 shared

• Richard Freeman

  6 shared

• C. M. Brown

  3 shared

• James D. Hamilton

  3 shared

• Rebecca M. Blank

  2 shared

Education

• B.A., Economics

  Harvard University

  1967

• Ph.D., Economics

  Harvard University

  1971