Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Covid-19 And Labor Shortage In France: Exploring The Contribution Of Tunisian Migrant Workers In Bridging The Labor Shortage, Sana Gasmi

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis employed a qualitative approach, combining both desk research and in-depth interviews with 11 participants: nine Tunisian migrant workers and two Tunisian migrant experts. The thesis examined labor shortage in France during the pandemic and the extent to which Tunisian migrant workers managed to bridge the labor shortage relying on the Segmented Labor market theory which was originally developed by Piore (1979), and the two concepts: System Effects and Systemic Resilience. Findings indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic unveiled several weaknesses in the French labor market system including the acute labor shortage. Faced by labor shortage, France turned to migrant …

Self-Employment Industry Selection: An Evaluation Of Wealth And Demographics On Industry Choice In The U.S., Samuel Ramirez

Theses and Dissertations

This paper evaluates the impact of financial resources and demographics on industry choice by self-employed business owners. I use a multinomial logistic regression to estimate the probability of having a business in a particular industry. The results suggest that entry into industries are hampered by financial constraints and social barriers.

The Effects Of The Social Security Amendments Of 1983 On Employment Status, Alcohol Consumption, And Depression, Adam J. Delgenio

Theses and Dissertations

Nearly four decades ago, Congress passed the Social Security Amendments of 1983. The changes were significant, and they pressured people to delay retirement. In this thesis, I use individual-level data from the Annual and Social Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey and the Health Retirement Study to analyze the effects of the amendments. The amendments affect individuals at the same age, but across different years. Year of birth determines treatment by the amendments. I control for year of birth and age effects in a difference-in-difference model and interact treatment with age to identify the effects of the amendments on …

The Impact Of Covid-19 On Employment Characteristics, Eliana Shatkin

Theses and Dissertations

The following study examines ways in which COVID-19 has disrupted the United States labor market. My findings present disproportionately negative effects of COVID-19 on employment, labor force participation, worker absence, and weekly working hours for the female population in my sample, as well as veterans, disabled persons, and racial minorities.

Universal Basic Income And The Alaska Permanent Fund: Impact On Labor Outcomes And Skill Composition, Michele Cafasso

Theses and Dissertations

To analyze the effects of universal basic income on labor supply and human capital, I estimate the effects of Alaska’s Permanent Fund on employment, hours worked, and skills using data from the Current Population Survey and O*NET. My method combines synthetic control and difference-in-differences regressions.

Education-Occupation Mismatch Among University Graduates In Egypt: Determinants And Consequences, Nouran Elkhouly

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis reviews the literature on the education-occupation mismatch. The thesis focuses on Egyptian university graduates and postgraduates in 2018. It studies the determinants of the education-occupation mismatch, and its effect on earnings and workers’ job satisfaction using the 2018 wave of the Egyptian Labor Market Survey (ELMPS). Ordinary least squares (OLS) and probit models were used to investigate the determinants of the education-occupation mismatch, and an OLS and a two-stage least square (2SLS) regressions were estimated with the use of the father’s education and father’s employment status as instrumental variables to determine the effect of the mismatch on labors’ …

Human Capital In The Knowledge Economy : A 3-Country Case Study In Healthcare, James Scott Mccallum

Theses and Dissertations

During the present knowledge economy there appear to be labor shortages at the same time and in the same regions in which there is an excess of labor supply. Such a pattern would run counter to previous major economic disruptions, as well as questioning traditional free market economic theory of supply and demand principles. Implications for policy where there are global labor shortages along with surplus labor availability in a market economy, are significant. It will likely indicate a drag on economic growth for business sectors, for regions and perhaps globally. It would indicate an accompanying growing disparity of income. …

Regional Wage Inequality In Egypt: Relationships To Micro And Macro Indicators, Noha Mostafa

Theses and Dissertations

Addressing regional disparities in Egypt is of paramount importance for the country’s success in achieving the pillars of its 2030 strategy, as well as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper focuses on examining regional disparities in wages, not only in relation to the micro level characteristics of workers such as their level of educational attainment and acquired experience, but also with regard to the overall economic conditions of the region where they work. The paper compiled a novel dataset of Egypt’s governorates macroeconomic indicators that includes the shares of public investment funds, poverty and unemployment rates and analyzed the …

The Insertion Of Syrian Refugees In The Egyptian Labor Market: With Special Focus On Food And Restaurants Sector, Mai Ali Hassan

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is about the insertion of Syrian refugees in the Egyptian labor market. It specifically focuses on this insertion in the food and restaurants sector. It reviews the theoretical literature that tackled the economic integration of refugees and asylum seekers. It also examines the legal framework governing refugees in Egypt as well as the legal apparatus provisions related to their employment. Both are factors determining the access of refugees to the Egyptian labor market. The thesis finds that other economic and social factors also determine and facilitate the access of Syrian refugees to the Egyptian labor market. In the …

Essays In Labor Economics, Tianfang Li

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of two chapters on labor economics. Despite differentia between topics, both share a similar property: causal effects analysis in the presence of unobserved variables. The first chapter examines the effects of China's two-child policy on childbearing, marriage, and female labor force participation. Using data from the China Labor-Force Dynamic Survey (CLDS) for 2012, 2014 and 2016, it generates three broad results. First, the universal two-child policy had a significant positive impact on having a second child during a portion of its phase-in. Second, the two-child policy did not influence the likelihood of marriage for young people. Third, …

Miamian Meets Mariel Boatlift Refugees: A Reevaluation Of The Effect Of The Mariel Boatlift, Derrick Lee

Theses and Dissertations

In the 1980s, a boatlift brought 125,000 Cuban refugees to Miami, known as the Mariel Boatlift. Using data from David Roodman’s blog and from National Bureau Economic Research and the synthetic control method, I examine the effect of the Mariel Boatlift on low-educated female non-Hispanic ages 18-65’s wages. The results suggest there is little to no effect of the Mariel Boatlift on the wages of low-educated female non-Hispanic aged 18-65.

Skills, Tasks, And Wages In Labor Markets, Eduard Storm

Theses and Dissertations

A key interest in labor economics is to understand quality differences between workers and why technology helped some types of labor, while hurting others. Conventional methods rely on formal qualifications such as education or experience to measure skill differences between workers. These are crude measures, however, as they assume that workers with comparable formal qualifications perform similar activities at work and thus earn similar wages. To provide remedy, this dissertation extends the task approach to labor markets, popularized by Autor, Levy & Murnance (2003), by utilizing information on tasks performed at work. This strand of the literature utilizes information on …

Forecasting Attrition By Afsc For The United States Air Force, Trey S. Pujats

Theses and Dissertations

Retention and personnel management is a challenge for every organization, particularly the military due to its hierarchical structure and barriers to entry. Talent must be developed and retained to become leaders, beginning at the lowest level in the Air Force. The Air Force faces a retention problem unlike most organizations that requires a unique perspective and tailored solution to each Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC). There exists previous efforts to predict attrition rates in the Air Force based on economic factors. This study expands upon the economic factors and tailors the predictor variables of attrition based on the AFSC. The …

The Effect Of The 2014-17 Refugee Crisis On The Sicilian Labor Market, Tamara Planer

Theses and Dissertations

This paper analyzes the effects of the 2014-17 migration crisis on the Sicilian labor market. I find that low-skilled Italian men experienced declines in employment and workforce participation, and both low-skilled Italian men and women experienced increases in duration of non-employment. The effects on salaries were modest and largely insignificant.

Essays In Women's Fertility And Public Policies, Safoora Javadi

Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation consists of three essays on the relationship between public policy, women’s education, and birth rates in two very different societies, Iran and the United States. A sharp decline in the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in Iran over the last three decades has put the country at the risk of an aging population. In the first two chapters, I detail the dimensions of changes in Iran’s TFR, examines some possible determinants, and estimate the impact of the government’s family planning policies on Iranian women’s fertility and marriage. I find that the policies mainly operated through the former channel – …

The Labor Of Play: The Political Economy Of Computer Game Culture, Justin Schumaker

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation questions the relationship between computer game culture and ideologies of neoliberalism and financialization. It questions the role computer games play in cultivating neoliberal practices and how the industry develops games and systems making play and work indistinguishable activities. Chapter 1 examines how computer game inculcate players into neoliberal practice through play. In chapter 2, the project shows Blizzard Entertainment systematically redevelops their games to encourage perpetual play aimed at increasing the consumption of digital commodities and currencies. Chapter 3 considers the role of esports, or professional competitive computer game play, to disperse neoliberal ideologies amongst nonprofessional players. Chapter …

The Effect Of College Degree Attainment On Risky Health Behaviors: Smoking, Obesity, And Vaping., Sal R. Ansari

Theses and Dissertations

This paper tests the hypothesis that completing college results in better health outcomes through the causal pathway of risky health behaviors. The results imply that completing college reduces the likelihood an individual is a smoker or e-smoker. The results do not show any causal relationship between college education and obesity.

Individual Demographic Transitions And Financial Hardship, Martin Erik Meder

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of two essays on the relationship between individual demographic transitions, major life events that alter how an individual may be categorized by demographers, and financial wellbeing. Recent literature on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) has reported an absence of substitution behavior between SSDI and other social insurance programs, which is unexpected considering the observed countercyclicality of SSDI awards. In the first chapter, I decompose the increase in the SSDI enrollment rate over the period surrounding the Great Recession, finding that 54.9% of the increase in the enrollment rate can be attributed to individuals who did not previously …

For Better, For Worse: The Effect Of Maternity Leave Policy On Divorce Rates, Toni S. Forde

Theses and Dissertations

Prior to 1993, maternity leave legislation in the United States varied from state to state. The implementation of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) thus created a “natural experiment” via which we can study the effect of the law on divorce across states.

Credit Risk And Corporate Governance, Olivier Mugisho Mudekereza

Theses and Dissertations

Is the executive’s compensation structure influenced by the credit rating assigned to his company? I analyze a panel of U.S. public firms using the random-effects and fixed-effects estimations. Compared to firms with lower credit risk, I find that firms facing higher probability of default provide more incentives for their CEOs.

Three Essays On Human Capital And Wages Of Refugees And Other Immigrants In The U.S., Abdihafit Shaeye

Theses and Dissertations

Human capital is an important mechanism that influences both the migration decisions of immigrants and the rate at which immigrants assimilate in the host country. Returns to human capital could be correlated with difficult-to-observe factors such as self-selection, and legal status, and these unobservables can affect the economic assimilation of immigrants into the host country differently. The objective of this dissertation is to investigate the returns to human capital for refugees and other immigrants during the first two decades after they come to the U.S. Refugees are a subset of immigrants who have different characteristics and face different constraints than …

Unemployment, Does It Really Hurt?, Claudia Vargas

Theses and Dissertations

This paper analyzes the consequences of changes in the unemployment rate in Colombia on the level of education attained for adolescents. Increases in the unemployment rate are associated with an increase in the average number of years of education. No significant effect was found for men of the same age.

The Effect Of Health Insurance On Young Adults' Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence From The Affordable Care Act's Dependent Coverage Expansion, Quazi Hassan

Theses and Dissertations

The Affordable Care Act’s dependent coverage mandate extended young adults’ parental coverage to age 26. I study the expansion’s impact on young adults’ labor market outcomes using a control function method. Following the expansion, I find dependent coverage lowered labor force participation, lowered incomes, and mixed evidence regarding labor supply.

Evaluating The Causal Effect Of Insurance Access On Labor Market Outcomes Among Young Adults, Eden Volkov

Theses and Dissertations

The ACA youth coverage mandate took effect in 2010. Under this provision, individuals through age 26 can remain on their parent's health insurance plan. This provision increased insurance coverage. This has led to 22-29 year olds being more likely to be self-employed, to not work, and to work part time.

Bullying And Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence From The National Longitudinal Survey Of Youth, 1997, Jessica Lum

Theses and Dissertations

Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 (NLSY97) is used to study the effect of bullying on human capital accumulation. Findings suggest that adolescent bullying has a significant and negative impact on the highest educational level attained, as well as income earned as an adult.

The Effects Of Nafta On Consumption, Income, And Employment, Warren Mills

Theses and Dissertations

A significant amount of concern exists in popular and political culture concerning the effects of trade liberalization on the domestic economy in the U.S. Difficulty exists in isolating the effects of a particular trade agreement due to unrelated trade policy changes that happen preceding, during, and following the signing of an agreement. This research seeks to do an analysis of the big picture involving consumption, income, and employment not with the intent of determining causation, which has proven highly problematic in previous research; instead, the focus is on whether we can exclude a negative effect by NAFTA on these measures …

The Economics Of Crime, Bryan S. Weber

Theses and Dissertations

Essay 1: “Can Safe Ride Program Reduce Urban Crime?” This paper evaluates the influence of a safe ride program at a public university on neighborhood crime in a major urban area. Using an hours of the week panel, the program's operation is associated with an approximate 14 percent reduction in crime. The program being open appears to have roughly similar influence in reducing violent and non-violent crime. Moreover, increases in rides (the intensity of the program) are also associated with reductions in crime. Such increases in program intensity are also associated with notably greater reductions in crime occurring on weekends. …

Earnings Risk And The U.S. Housing Market, Phillip Oberg

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this dissertation is to develop, refine, and employ empirical measures of earnings risk—especially permanent risk—and determine their effect on behavior, with applications specific to the recent mortgage bubble.

Chapter 1 aims to identify covariates of risks associated with permanent and temporary earnings shocks. The distinction is significant both because permanent shocks are more consequential and because measurement error would contaminate only measures of temporary risks. Generalizing methods used in previous work, we allow risk to vary both across individuals and over individuals’ careers, so they could be used to study behavioral responses to risk even with individual …

Three Essays In Health And Education, Ali Moghtaderi

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this dissertation is to apply empirical methodologies to analyze multiple topics in economics of education and health economics which have clear policy implications.

Chapter 1 analyzes the effect of negative publicity of child abuse scandal on Catholic schools. Public notices of child abuse have surrounded Catholic Church leadership for decades, but intensified after the 2002 coverage by the Boston Globe and the ensuing accelerated media coverage. Using diocese level panel data of Catholic school enrollment, reports of abuse after 2002 appear to have a negative, long-lasting effect on both demand and supply of Catholic schools. No effect …

Three Essays On The Economic Costs Of Armed Conflict, Anton Parlow

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays on the economic cost of armed conflict.

The first essay focuses on the impact of an armed conflict on children's health. The exposure to violence in utero and early in life has adverse impacts on children's age-adjusted height. Using the experience of the Kashmir insurgency, I find that children more affected by the insurgency are 0.9 to 1.4 standard deviations shorter compared with children less affected by the insurgency. The effect is larger for children born during peaks in violence. Also, children affected by the insurgency are more likely to be sick in the …