people

Peter Kuhn

Peter Kuhn
Economics
University of California, Santa Barbara
Professor
Broom Center Affiliation(s)

Inagural Director of the Broom Demography Center, 2011-2016
 

Peter Kuhn is a labor economist whose research includes work on wage and employment discrimination, immigration, displaced workers, and comparative labor markets, among other areas. Kuhn’s research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Ford Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the University of California’s Pacific Rim Research Program, among others. Kuhn’s current research is based on large samples of job ads and resumes that are downloaded from job boards in a number of countries, including China. Topics examined using this data include the determinants and effects of explicit, advertised gender discrimination, and the determinants of employer’s demands for ‘soft’ skills. Currently, Kuhn is also serving as the founding Director of the Broom Center.

Grants, Awards and Distinctions:

Institute for Social, Behavioral and Economic Research (ISBER), UC Santa Barbara. “Why do Workplace Teams Bunch at Kink Points? Evidence from the Laboratory” $2850.

UCSB Academic Senate. “Why do Taxpayers Bunch at Kink Points?  Evidence from Accelerating Commissions”.  $2850.

National Natural Science Foundation of China. 2013-2015. "Impacts of Hukou, Education and Wage on Job Search and Match: Evidence Based on Online Job Board Microdata," (co-investigator with Kailing Shen, PI, grant No. 71203188. RMB 190,000 (USD $31,000).

UCSB Faculty Senate Research Grant. 2015-2016. “Is Explicit Gender Discrimination in China ‘Hard’ or ‘Soft’?” $3,500.

UCSB College of Letters and Science Council of Deans conference support award for Ninth Annual meeting of the Trans-Pacific Labor Seminar (TPLS). 2015-2016. $2,500.

UCSB Department of Economics, support for Ninth Annual meeting of the TPLS. 2015-2016. $10,000.

805.729.0054

Publications

Kuhn, Peter and Kailing Shen.  2023. 
"What Happens When Employers Can No Longer Discriminate in Job Ads? "
American Economic Review 113(4) pp. 1013-48.  PDF  AER 
Kuhn, Peter, Kailing Shen and Shuo Zhang. 2021. 
"Gender-Targeted Job Ads in the Recruitment Process:Evidence from China. "
Journal of Development Economics.
Research Themes:
Delgado Helleseter, Miguel, Peter Kuhn and Kailing Shen. 2020. 
"The Age Twist in Employers’ Gender Preferences: Evidence from Four Job Boards. "
Journal of Human Resources 55(2): 428-469. 
Research Themes:
Kuhn, Peter and Lizi Yu. 2020. 
"How Costly is Turnover? Evidence from Retail. "
 Journal of Labor Economics.
Research Themes:
Delgado Helleseter, Miguel, Peter Kuhn and Kailing Shen. 2018. 
"The Age Twist in Employers’ Gender Preferences: Evidence from Four Job Boards. "
Journal of Human Resources.
Research Themes:
Kuhn, Michael A., Peter Kuhn and Marie Claire Villeval. 2017. 
"Decision-Environment Effects on Intertemporal Financial Choices: How Relevant are Resource-Depletion Models?"
Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 137 (May 2017): 72-89.
Research Themes:
Peter Kuhn and Kailing Shen. 2015.
"Do Employers Prefer Migrant Workers? Evidence from China's Hukou System"
IZA Journal of Labor Economics. 2015, 4:22 DOI: 10.1186/s40172-015-0038-0
Kelly Bedard (with Peter Kuhn). 2015.
"Making Nutritional Information Digestible: Effects of a Receipt-Based Intervention on Fast Food Purchases."
Journal of Health Economics, 2015 39: 106-122.
Research Themes:
Kuhn, Peter and Marie Claire Villeval. 2015.
"Are Women More Attracted to Cooperation than Men?"
Economic Journal 125 (582) (February 2015) Doi: 10.1111/ecoj.12122.
Research Themes:
Kuhn, Peter and Hani Mansour. 2014.
"Is Internet Job Search Still Ineffective?"
Economic Journal.
Kuhn, Peter. 2014.
"The Internet as a Labor Market Matchmaker: How Effective Are the New Electronic Methods of Worker Recruitment and Job Search?"
IZA World of Labor.
Kuhn, Peter and Kaling Shen.
"Gender Discrimination in Job Ads: Evidence from China"
Quarterly Journal of Economics 128(1) (February 2013).
Research Themes:
Shen, Kailing, and Peter Kuhn. 2013. 
"Do Chinese Employers Avoid Hiring Overqualified Workers? Evidence from an Internet Job Board."
Research in Labor Economics 37(2013): 1-30.
Charness, Gary, and Peter Kuhn.
"Lab Labor: What Can Labor Economists Learn in the Lab?"
Handbook of Labor Economics, Volume 4a, February, 2011, 229-330
Kuhn, Peter, Peter Kooreman, Adriaan Soetevent, and Arie Kapteyn
"The Effects of Lottery Prizes on Winners and Their Neighbors: Evidence from the Dutch Postcode Lottery"
American Economic Review 101 (5) (August 2011). pp 2226-2247
Charness, Gary, Peter Kuhn and Marie Claire Villeval.
"Competition and the Ratchet Effect"
Journal of Labor Economics, 29, July, 2011, 513-547