Christopher Taber

Professor of Economics
6446 Sewell Social Sciences
(608) 263-7791
ctaber@ssc.wisc.edu

Research Interest Statement
Taber’s research has focused on human capital formation, particularly through the estimation of models of skill formation. This includes skills gain in college, in private schools, in job training facilities, and on the job. His work blends empirical studies where he documents facts relevant to the topic of exploration, and blends methodological issues that arise from this applied problems. Taber’s methodological work derives new econometric techniques.

During the last thirty years in the United States there has been a large increase in earnings inequality, which has generally been interpreted as an increase in the value places on skills in the labor market. The wage gap has widened across schooling groups, across age groups, as well as within specific socio-economic groups. These changes in wage structure have spawned interest in increasing the skill levels of low-skill workers. Much of Taber’s work has been motivated by questions about how policy makers should respond to the changing wage structure. Some papers consider the effects of specific policies on skills. Others as more basic questions: before adopting specific policies we need to gain a deeper understanding of the determinants of wages and why dispersion has changed over time.

CDE Research Theme Working Groups
Demography of Inequality
Fertility/Families and Households
Data and Methodology