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Comparisons Of Ad Valorem And Unit Tax In Two Different Industries, Kai Zhang

Economics Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes the comparisons between unit and ad valorem tax in two different industries.

Chapter 1 considers an industry with one upstream monopolist and a fixed number of asymmetric downstream firms. I compare market outcomes from unit and ad valorem tax under three pricing schemes that the upstream monopolist can use, uniform pricing, third-degree price discrimination, and two-part tariffs. I find that ad valorem tax is always tax revenue preferred to unit tax when both are charged at the same layer as long as profit margin is positive. Downstream ad valorem tax improves total social welfare by relocating production …

Empirical Essays In Household Economics, Hao Li

Economics Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is consist of three empirical studies in economics. The first part empirically examines the effect of universal pre-k on labor force participation of fertility age women in Oklahoma. I investigate the policy effect from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. I apply the synthetic control method (SCM) to the Current Population Survey (CPS) data to identify the causal relationship between universal pre-k and female labor outcomes. I find that universal pre-k increases labor supply of women aged 25 to 45 in Oklahoma. The second empirical study focuses on how the birth outcomes of US children respond to exposure to …