Studies in the labor market for veterinarians

This dissertation analyzes the labor market for veterinarians, and in the course investigates three main topics that have relevance to the general labor market. Data utilized include three wage surveys conducted by two veterinary journals, and census data, along with other government published data. Cross-section as well as time-series regression estimation techniques are utilized.; The first topic explored is how human capital investors form earnings expectations. Other have shown that in labor markets for highly skilled individuals, human capital investors behave myopically, forming earnings expectations based on market conditions that exist years prior to entry into the labor market. This behavior generates long periods of disequilibrium, with markets characterized by alternating periods of oversupply and undersupply of labor. A time-series analysis of the market for veterinarians provides evidence consistent with this theory. The veterinary labor market appears characterized by a seven-year lag between the time of occupational choice and entry into the labor market. Tests for competing rational expectations models provide further support for the myopic expectations model.; Second, I explore whether there exists evidence of wage discrimination in the veterinarian labor market. After a review of the wage discrimination literature, empirical evidence from wage-salary sector veterinarians is presented. The unadjusted gender gap in average earnings is 15 percent. After controlling for various observable characteristics, the adjusted earnings gap is 10 percent, based on the most conservative estimates. Utilizing unique productivity measures, I report women in parity with men in productivity, other factors held constant. Finding gender differences in earnings, but not in productivity, is evidence consistent with the existence of wage discrimination.; Last, I analyze gender differences in self-employment labor market outcomes. In the general labor market, females have lower self-employment rates and earnings, relative to males. After a review of existing models of self-employment choice, I test the predictions and implications of these models with self-employed veterinarians. Results find existing theories generally unable to explain the gender gap in earnings. Further analysis suggests a significant portion of the gender gap in earnings may be explained by the fact that female-owned firms tend to be smaller than male-owned firms.