David Card

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Economist David Card

For other uses, see David Card (disambiguation).

David Card is a labor economist and professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

Card earned his B.A. from Queen's University in 1978 and his Ph.D. in Economics in 1983 from Princeton University.

From 1988 to 1992, Card was Associate Editor of the Journal of Labor Economics and from 1993 to 1997, he was co-editor of Econometrica. He won the John Bates Clark Medal in 1995.

In the early 1990s, Card received much attention for his finding, together with his then Princeton University colleague Alan Krueger that, contrary to widely accepted beliefs among economists, the minimum wage increase in New Jersey did not result in job reduction of fast food companies in that state^[1]. While this claim has been disputed by many(see minimum wage for discussion), a few economists, including Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, accept Card and Krueger's findings ^[2]

David Card has also made fundamental contributions to research on immigration^[3], education^[4], job training and inequality. Much of Card's work centers around a comparison between the United States and Canada in various situations. On immigration, Card's research has shown that the economic impact of new immigrants is minimal. Card has done several case studies on the rapid assimilation of immigrant groups, finding that they have little or no impact on wages. In an interview with the New York Times, Card said, "I honestly think the economic arguments [against immigration] are second order. They are almost irrelevant." ^[5] This does not imply, however, that Card believes immigration should be increased, merely that immigrants do not pose a threat to the labor market.

Despite the fact that Card sometimes researches issues with strong political implications, he does not publicly take a stand on political issues or make policy suggestions. Nevertheless, pundits and politicians on the left and right have cited him in support of increased immigration and a living wage.

[edit] References

^ Myth and Measurement: The New Economics of the Minimum Wage, with Alan B. Kruger, Princeton University Press, 1997. (ISBN 0-691-04823-1)
^ Jozeph Stiglitz (2002). Employment, social justice and societal well-being International Labour Review, 141 (1-2), p. 9 - 29.
^ Card, David. "Is the new immigration really so bad?", Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
^ Card, David. "Is it worth it to go to college?"
^ "The Immigration Equation" by Roger Lowenstein. The New York Times Magazine, July 9, 2006