Search

This dissertation focuses on microeconomic topics in the fields of public, labor and education. Particularly, this dissertation evaluates state policies in higher education and develops a global measure for job quality. Chapter 1 studies how state merit aid programs affect undergraduate degrees earned in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. State merit aid (SMA) programs have grown in popularity in recent decades as a mechanism to improve college attainment and reduce state out-migration by allocating awards based on student grade point average. A potential unintended consequence of SMA programs is substitution away from majors with traditionally lower GPAs to majors with traditionally higher GPAs. Using data from the American Community Survey, I estimate event study models that use variation in the timing of SMA implementation to identify the effect of SMA programs on the production of undergraduate STEM degrees. I find that SMA programs reduce the likelihood of graduating in a STEM degree by 1.18 percentage points or 5.9%, on average. A back of the envelope calculation suggests that SMA programs reduced the stock of STEM graduates by about 39,000 in the 2018-2019 academic year. The effect is stronger for females where the average reduction in STEM degree production is 10.3% compared to 3.5% for males. Chapter 2 studies how state merit aid programs affect homeownership. SMA programs may work as a substitute for debt, affording recipients the financial flexibility to purchase a home earlier in their life cycle. Using data from the American Community Survey, I estimate event study models that use variation in the timing of SMA implementation to identify the effect of SMA programs on the proportion of individuals that own a home. I find that SMA programs have statistically and economically insignificant impacts on homeownership. Chapter 3 is joint work with colleagues at the World Bank, and in this paper we measure the quality of employment across developing countries. Measuring job quality has been challenging due to data availability constraints within countries, and comparability constraints across countries. As a result, much work relies on proxy-indicators of job quality, such as formality or wages. This paper contributes to the policy discussion by proposing a global measure of job quality for wage employment. We assemble a harmonized dataset of labor force and household surveys, across 40 developing countries, and create a measure of job quality across four dimensions: income, employment benefits, stability, and working conditions. Results show there is significant variation in job quality across countries, economic sectors, and demographic characteristics. Countries in the Latin America and the Caribbean region have relatively higher levels of job quality, while countries in Sub-Saharan Africa display the lowest levels of job quality. Most workers in the finance and business services, public administration, and utilities sectors have, on average, better quality jobs. Higher education matters for securing job quality in earnings, benefits, and job stability. Finally, the average job quality of wage employment is relatively similar between males and females in all dimensions but income. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]