Labor Economics Commons^™

Institutions, Trade, And Economic Prosperity: An Examination Of The U.S. And Mexican States, Dean Stansel, Meg Patrick Tuszynski

Mission Foods Texas-Mexico Center Research

We provide the first subnational-level examination of the relationship between the presence of policies and institutions that are consistent with economic freedom and trade volume. To do so, we create a new comprehensive dataset detailing export activity between each U.S. state (that is, for the volume of trade between Texas and Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico, etc.) and between each U.S. state and each Mexican state (Texas and Chihuahua, Texas and Coahuila, etc.). Our empirical strategy allows us to explore what effect institutions have on both interstate trade and cross-border trade, and also what impact the national border has on …

Investigating The Effect Crime Has On Uber And Yellow Taxi Pickups In Nyc, Kebing Li

Honors Theses

How to manage the relationship between Uber and the local taxi industry has been a long-lasting and hot topic for most of the major cities around the world. Whether Uber is stealing money from and undermining the local taxi drivers or it is beneficial for public transportation has no certain conclusions. In this paper, we focus on the city of New York, where both Uber and traditional Yellow Taxi play important roles in public transportation and city culture in general, and we are trying to investigate the factors that are going to affect Uber and Yellow Taxi pickups in New …

Immigration Policy In The United States, Yanjun Liu

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation contains three essays on the impact of immigration, especially high-skilled immigration in the United States. The first essay addresses the question of whether the effect of the Great Recession on unemployment of immigrants in the United States has been different from the impact on the unemployment of natives. Significant differences are identified when immigrants and natives with different levels of education are treated as separate groups. For a native-born citizen, a higher level of education is associated with shorter unemployment duration. But for an immigrant, the higher the level of education he or she obtains, the longer his …

Education, Skills, And Wage Outcomes Among Mid-Career Adults : A Cross-National Study, Kai Zhou

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Interest in the role of non-cognitive skills on successful life outcomes (such as academic performance) has increased in recent years. Policy makers in many countries have prioritized the learning of non-cognitive skills in the school curriculum and training frameworks. Although studies in labor economics have provided important insights about the impact of non-cognitive skills on earnings (e.g., Lindqvist and Vestman 2011; Heckman, Stixrud, and Urzua 2006), solid evidence about how labor markets produce or facilitate the acquisition of non-cognitive skills in different country settings is lacking. The linkage between education, skills and wages has been at the core discussion of …

Essays On Applications Of Spatial Econometric Models, Jihu Zhang

Wayne State University Dissertations

Since the infamous riot of 1967, high crime rates and negative media reports have labeled the city of Detroit as one of the most dangerous cities in the U.S. For a better understanding of crime situation in Detroit, we discuss the spatial interactions of crime rates among block groups as well as the impact of socioeconomic variables on crime by using spatial autoregressive models, crime data, and socioeconomic data. In particular, we introduced a geographical methodology: inverse distance weighting (IDW), which is mainly used to estimate distance based weighting from a scattered set of points. This paper is an essential …

The Impact Of Regional Return On Education On The Self-Selection Of Mexican Immigrants, Warren Chen

CMC Senior Theses

This paper uses the 2010 Mexican Population and Housing Survey to examine the role of regional return to education on migrant selection. The study uses a standard linear regression model to predict the educational attainment of migrants and compares it to the educational attainment of non-migrants in each Mexican State. It finds evidence of negative selection, that less educated Mexican citizens are more likely to migrate to the United States. It also finds little evidence of the impact of regional return to education on migrant selection. The study offers potential explanations for the lack of impact and suggests avenues for …

A Nuanced Look At Gender Interactions On Informal Employment And Income In Argentina And Uruguay, Teagan Knight

CMC Senior Theses

There are many existing studies characterizing the informal sector in Latin America, but the literature fails to fully examine the interactions between gender and disadvantaging factors on the probability of informal employment and its returns to wage. This analysis uses survey data from Argentina (2001) and Uruguay (2006) to examine the heterogeneous effects of number of children under 5, education, minority status, and migrant status on male and female informal employment and income. Being female interacts with number of children under 5 to create no effect on probability of informal employment, in contrast to a significant negative effect for men. …

Relationship Between Perceived Contribution, Professional Respect, And Employee Engagement, Rafael Eustacio Guarin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Disengaged employees are a threat to a company's survival in a highly competitive world. Despite employee engagement benefits, the mediation of interactions between leaders and followers and the specific drivers of engagement remain poorly understood. This correlational study was grounded on leader member exchange (LMX) theory and examined the relationship between 2 dimensions of LMX (perceived contribution and professional respect) and employee engagement. In this study, 68 manufacturing employees from the southern region of the United States responded to 2 surveys to measure the LMX dimensions and the level of employee engagement. Using multiple regression analysis, the existence of a …

Essays On Child Well-Being And The Social Safety Net, Cody N. Vaughn

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

This dissertation consists of three essays examining the role of two particular social safety net programs, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), on the well-being of children from disadvantaged households. While the impact of these programs on the adults and parents of the household have been studied extensively, less is known about their effect on children. This is true for both their immediate impact on child well-being and any long-run impacts on children who grow up under these programs. Given the demonstrated importance of child well-being on later life adult outcomes, …

The Effects Of Destruction: A Macroeconomic Story, Kara Riesing

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

Destructive events such as natural disasters and terrorist attacks occur not only in developing economies but also developed economies. Consequently, the response of these economies has been observed in case of both type of events. This dissertation is a collection of essays regarding natural disasters, terrorist attacks and the macroeconomy. Specifically, I examine the response of local labor markets that reflect a wide spectrum of economies, but also have a safety-net in the form of being part of a developed country in the aftermath of a violent tornado. Further, I explore the heterogeneity in the economies response to natural disasters …

The Distributional And Countercyclical Effects Of Public Capital Investment In Transportation Infrastructure, Matthijs B. Schendstok

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

While the long run productivity of federal highway infrastructure spending has been well researched, their short run effects and effects on income inequality. This dissertation explores those under-researched unconventional effects.

In the first chapter, I investigate the effects of federal infrastructure grants on income inequality. I find that grants reduce inequality in both recipient and neighboring states. The reduction is driven by greater income among the bottom three income quintiles. I explore two mechanisms using person level data and find that the reduction in inequality is attributable to higher income for low-skilled workers and workers working in low-skilled industries.

In …

Love At First Byte: An Economic Analysis Of The Internet Dating Apocalypse, Hamsa Srikanth

CMC Senior Theses

We’re often warned that the internet will hasten the dating apocalypse. The internet (it is posited) is depriving us of the elusive in-person magic, and modern courtship is now little more than love at first byte.

There remains uncertainty, however, about what the independent impact of the internet on the dating market has been. Similar to the internet, the telephone also changed the way we communicate, but its effect on the dating market was mostly complementary to the 'traditional' ways of meeting – i.e. calling your school crush at home. So the question remains: Is the effect of the …

Measuring The Economic Costs Of Workplace Sexual Harassment On Women, Maureen R. Cowhey

Scripps Senior Theses

Workplace sexual harassment costs the government and companies millions of dollars a year. Women who experience sexual harassment in the workplace suffer from negative mental and physical health problems, lower career attainment, decreased productivity, and a higher rate of job turnover. Sexual harassment is both costly and unjust, however the exact cost to women who experience sexual harassment is unknown. This thesis will measure the impact of workplace sexual harassment on wages in different industries. Using data on claims filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, I calculate and analyze the impact of sexual harassment on wages, age, sex, and …

Food Stamps And The Working Poor, Peter R. Mueser, David C. Ribar, Erdal Tekin

Upjohn Press

The authors show that many households that are eligible for food stamps do not receive them, and that eligible individuals' enrollment is influenced by the states' administrative requirements. Highlighted are the procedures for certifying applicants and recertifying recipients, and policies for treatment of able-bodied adults without dependents.

Brain Drain And Emigration: How Do They Affect Source Countries?, Nicholas Chura

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This paper examines the effect of different skill levels of emigration on a country’s labor market, from high skill brain drain to low skill emigration. By utilizing an IADB Brain Drain data set to measure emigration rates among those with low, medium, and high educational attainment in a country, the effect of brain drain vs. low skill emigration on productivity and unemployment is examined. These data span from 1980 to 2010 with measurements every five years for 195 World Bank countries. By utilizing two two-way fixed effects models with GDP per capita and unemployment rate as the dependent variables, the …

The Working Wife: A Three-Pronged Model Of Marriage And Women's Employment, Karris Mccollum

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

What literature exists on women’s labor suggests that as women gain financial and economic freedom, their role in the family and home shifts as well. The sharp rise in women’s labor force participation in the latter half of the 20th century provides fertile grounds for testing this hypothesis and quantifying the effect of working on the institution of marriage. Employment could potentially help or harm an existing marriage or contribute to the selection of compatible partners. In this paper, I examine the impact of rising women's labor force participation rates on divorce rates, marital satisfaction, and women's age at first …

The Legalization Of Street Vending In Los Angeles: Exploring The Impact On Vendors And Their Livelihoods, Karen Alpuche Caceres

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis aims to unpack the impact the legalization of street vending and the subsequent regulation had on sidewalk vendors. Although legalization occurred state-wide through Senate Bill 946 in September of 2017, the rules and regulations for vending were passed at a city-level, and I am focusing on the City of Los Angeles specifically. Through interviews with government officials, non-profit partners and advocates, and vendors from different parts of the City, I analyze information around the policy itself, its history, and the impact it has and is expected to have on vendors and their businesses. While vendors have been central …

Three Essays On The Economics Of Public Libraries, Amir Borges Ferreira Neto

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation explores empirical issues concerning public libraries in the United States. In particular, it analyzes the direct and indirect effects to and from public libraries, on different issues such as charitable donations, labor market outcomes, institutions and technical efficiency. Chapter 1 discusses the economics of public libraries and its relevance. In addition, it provides an outline of the dissertation and its main contribution to the literature. Chapter 2, analyzes the determinants of donations to public libraries testing the crowding effect from government funding of public libraries. I find suggestive results of a crowd in effect with an inverted U …

Building A Good Jobs Economy, Dani Rodrik, Charles F. Sabel

Faculty Scholarship

Conventional models are failing throughout the world. In the developed world, the welfare state-compensation model has been in retrenchment for some time, and the drawbacks of the neoliberal conception that has superseded it are increasingly evident. Yet there is no compelling alternative on offer. In the developing world, the conventional, tried-and-tested model of industrialization has run out of steam. In both sets of societies a combination of technological and economic forces (in particular, globalization) is creating or exacerbating productive/technological dualism, with a segment of advanced production in metropolitan areas that thrives on the uncertainty generated by the knowledge economy co-existing …

Strategies For Using Analytics To Improve Human Resource Management, Rosaline Uduak Etukudo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The use of analytics in human resource (HR) management has proven successful in improving company performance by reducing workforce costs, improving the quality of recruitment, improving talent management and employee engagement, and generally improving productivity. The purpose of this qualitative, multiple-case study was to explore how HR managers use analytics to improve company performance using the contextually based human resource theory as the conceptual framework. The target population comprised a purposeful sample of 5 HR managers in Washington DC; the United States; and Lagos, Nigeria, who had experience using analytics for HR management. Data were collected through semistructured interviews using …