Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Nonparametric Identification And Estimation Of Stochastic Frontier Models, Jun Cai

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation studies nonparametric identication and estimation of stochastic frontiermodels. It is composed of three chapters. The rst chapter investigates the identication and estimation of a cross sectional stochastic frontier model with Laplacian errors and unknown variance, which is built on a nonparametric density deconvolution strategy. Chapter two studies a zero-ineciency stochastic frontier model utilizing a penalized sieve estimator, which allows flexible function forms and arbitrary distributions of ineciency. The third chapter explores identication and estimation of a nonparametric panel stochastic frontier model based on Kotlarski's Lemma and moments derived from conditional characteristic functions.

Essays On Globalization, Labor Market, And Productivity, Hoang Pham

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation studies issues at the intersection of globalization, labor market, and productivity in developing countries. It is composed of three chapters.

Chapter 1 studies how a country's trade policy affects competition in its domestic labor market. In a heterogeneous-firm model with oligopsonistic local labor markets, this chapter demonstrates that opening up to trade can affect distortions in such markets. These distortions arise because firms are large and able to exercise market power over their local workers. Using a panel dataset of Chinese manufacturing firms from 1998-2007, I measure firm-level labor market distortion, captured by the ratio between marginal revenue …