Ronald L. Oaxaca (; born c. 1943) is an American economist who is the McClelland Professor of

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

Tucson Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

. His areas of research include

labor economics Labour economics seeks to understand the functioning and dynamics of the markets for wage labour. Labour is a commodity that is supplied by labourers, usually in exchange for a wage paid by demanding firms. Because these labourers exist as pa ...

, applied

econometrics Econometrics is an application of statistical methods to economic data in order to give empirical content to economic relationships. M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics", '' The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'', v. 2, p. 8 p. 8 ...

and applied

microeconomics Microeconomics is a branch of economics that studies the behavior of individuals and Theory of the firm, firms in making decisions regarding the allocation of scarcity, scarce resources and the interactions among these individuals and firms. M ...

. Oaxaca graduated from

California State University, Fresno California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers 60 ba ...

in 1965, and went on to earn a Ph.D. from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1971.

Background

Oaxaca conducts research on panel data analysis of faculty salary determination. He has been engaged in research on statistical discrimination,

consistent estimator In statistics, a consistent estimator or asymptotically consistent estimator is an estimator—a rule for computing estimates of a parameter ''θ''0—having the property that as the number of data points used increases indefinitely, the result ...

s of linear probability models, the effects of ability and family background on optimal schooling levels, a labor supply model of dual job holding, the production of engineering degrees in American universities, the effects of technological change on gender wage differentials, and comparative trends in gender wage differentials between Denmark and the U.S. Oaxaca is perhaps best known for his Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition procedure which attempts to identify the presence of labour market discrimination against particular groups. In this technique, which was introduced in his doctoral thesis at

and eventually published in 1973, separate statistical models of labour market outcomes (typically wage rates) are estimated for two different groups of workers. The modelling procedure allows the researcher to hypothesize what the wage of the discriminated-against group would be if discrimination were absent from the labour market. In 2005 ''Hispanic Business'' magazine identified Ronald Oaxaca as one of the 100 Most Influential Hispanics in the United States. The Oaxaca decomposition is used worldwide to sort out claims of discrimination in salaries and wages. The Oaxaca decomposition has been cited in hundreds of published research papers and in countless discrimination lawsuits.

References

External links

Website at the University of Arizona
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oaxaca, Ronald American labor economists Economists from California California State University, Fresno alumni University of Arizona faculty Princeton University alumni 1940s births Living people Microeconomists Economists from Arizona 21st-century American economists Year of birth missing (living people)