Essays on social factors related to United States income inequality

Economists have proposed many explanations for the rise in U.S. income inequality since the 1970s, including the erosion of unions and the diminishing supply of skilled labor. This dissertation addresses three social trends that might also have contributed to rising inequality: (1) the increase in the incarceration rate in the U.S., especially among disadvantaged groups; (2) the rising flow of unskilled immigrants into the U.S.; and (3) the divergence of fertility behavior between socio-economic groups. The first essay considers the removal of the parole board's authority to release prisoners before the expiration of their sentence, a policy many states have adopted. I find that this reform discourages prisoners from making human-capital investments while incarcerated and increases recidivism upon release. Thus, not only have more Americans spent time in prison since the 1970s, they have done so in institutions with a diminishing ability to rehabilitate inmates. While studying institutions that disproportionately affect the disadvantaged is essential to understanding poverty and inequality, understanding how households--especially lower-income households--make decisions is also necessary to study social trends and the potential impact of public policy. The second essay focuses on immigrant families. The acquisition of English encourages assimilation and has been linked to higher wages. However, increasing the English proficiency of an individual may diminish the incentives of other household members to learn the language if English skills across individuals are substitutes in household production. I examine quasi-random shocks to children's English skills and find that living with an English-proficient child decrease the probability of an adult immigrant learning English. My final essay considers how families affect individuals' fertility decisions. Educated women in the U.S. are more likely to delay childbirth, while the rest of the population has experienced an increase in the probability of out-of-wedlock birth. As later childbirth predicts higher income, diverging fertility may be related to income dispersion. I find the probability of having a child rises in the two years following the birth of a niece or nephew, suggesting that having a baby is "contagious" and that peer effects may contribute to the divergence of U.S. fertility patterns.