No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

This dissertation, in the standard three-essay format, studies three distinct but closely related aspects of the United States labor markets. Chapter 1 attempts to identify the main drivers of potential migration to the United States by using administrative data from the United States Diversity Visa Lottery. Estimating fixed effects panel data models that control for time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity in source-country level determinants of potential migration, I find that income levels in source countries and educational attainment of the source-country population play important role in determining migration intentions. Specifically, a one percent increase in per capita Gross Domestic Product of a source country decreases the potential migration rate from that country to the US by 1.36%. Similarly, a one percent increase in the educational attainment of source population (measured as the percentage of population with at least secondary education) decreases potential migration rate by 1.16%. The results obtained in this chapter improve our understanding of the composition of US labor markets by identifying the most important socio-economic variables that drive migration to the US. Chapter 2 estimates the causal impact of a change in supply of immigrant entrepreneurs on entrepreneurial propensities of natives. I draw data from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey and use withinstate variation in supply of immigrant entrepreneurs for identification. To address concerns of endogeneity in the supply of immigrant entrepreneurs, I take advantage of a quasi-experiment provided by the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. I find that, on average, immigrants self-employed in unincorporated businesses have no discernible impact on self-employment propensities of natives. However, immigrants self-employed in incorporated businesses crowd in natives into incorporated self-employment. Specifically, a 1% increase in incorporated immigrant entrepreneurs increases the supply of incorporated native entrepreneurs by 0.11%. Furthermore, various sub-sample analyses demonstrate substantial heterogeneity in the impact of immigrant entrepreneurs on entrepreneurial propensities of natives. The results obtained in this chapter have important implications for policies related to immigration and entrepreneurship development. Finally, Chapter 3 exploits the State Children’s Health Insurance Program to investigate the impact of publicly funded health insurance coverage for children on labor supply of adults. Using data from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey and triple difference identification strategy, the analysis demonstrates that public health insurance for children decreases labor supply of women, both at the extensive and the intensive margin, but increases that of men at the extensive margin. The estimates obtained in this chapter highlight the labor supply distortions associated with welfare benefits. / Economics

This dissertation focuses on mid- to late-19th-century Philadelphia immigrants, their experiences, and how their lives have been remembered or, as in this case, forgotten. During the course of this study Elfreth’s Alley in Old City Philadelphia is used as a lens through which to critically examine elements of immigrant experience and memory construction from an archaeological perspective. Designated as a National Historic Landmark, Elfreth’s Alley is credited with being one of the oldest, continuously-occupied residential streets in the nation. Formed in the early-18th century, Elfreth’s Alley became home to a large immigrant population, predominantly from Ireland and Germany, during the mid- to late-19th century. In the 20th century the narrow thoroughfare was selectively recognized as an important historic site in Philadelphia based on its colonial origin and early American architecture. Within this context, this dissertation expounds two interconnected lines of rediscovery at Elfreth’s Alley. The first is the rediscovery of the physical world in which immigrants lived; the second is the rediscovery of the abstract landscape of memory in which they were forgotten. The archaeological analysis of 124 and 126 Elfreth’s Alley in this text focuses on deconstructing the physical built environment on the street to understand the lived experience of immigrant occupants, while an examination of the public archaeology program implemented on the Alley explores how programming helped reshape memory at the historic site and fostered dialogue about the presentation of history and contemporary immigration. Through combining the results of documentary research, urban archaeological excavation, and public programing, this dissertation reveals the complexity of urban immigrant life and memory at Elfreth’s Alley specifically and Philadelphia at large. / Anthropology

The Canadian identity narrative typically centres on two features: universal healthcare and a longstanding tradition of welcoming newcomers – in particular, refugees. In 2012, this mythology was troubled when, without warning, asylum seekers’ healthcare access was dramatically limited. In an equally dramatic fashion, physicians and the greater healthcare community took to the streets, occupied offices, and interrupted politicians in an effort to restore refugee claimants’ access to healthcare. While this physician-led response was unprecedented in Canada, physicians had previously rallied in a similar fashion in two other universal healthcare countries: England (2003) and Germany (1993). Across all three cases, formidable physician responses emerged following efforts to remove or restrict asylum seekers’ healthcare access. In Canada, asylum seeker health restrictions, and the successful social movement they spurred were unexpected entirely. In England, attempts to restrict access are expected, but the government’s failure to implement wide-scale reforms are not. Finally, in Germany, restrictions are potentially expected, but one also expects the decades-long advocacy movement to have created national-level change; instead, ripples of impact are seen unevenly across the country. This prompts two central questions: what conditions are necessary for a national government to successfully implement restrictions on asylum seeker healthcare? And, what conditions will support physician-led social movements’ efforts to reverse these legislative changes? This thesis examines these two questions in a three-case comparison of Canada, England and Germany. Drawing on over 60 qualitative interviews with physicians, policymakers, and politicians, this study takes an ecological approach to understanding what factors facilitate reform, and what factors shape advocacy movements. In particular, this study identifies factors at each of the macro, meso, and micro-levels of analysis to map advocacy movements against their institutional contexts and political climates. By examining social movements as creatures of their policy and ideational contexts, this thesis provides a holistic examination of the people, organizations, and institutions that shape asylum seeker healthcare. This study identifies features of movements and contexts that will impact advocacy efforts; these findings are of use to scholars of social movements but also everyday advocates and persons driving change in asylum seeker social policy. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The dissertation is composed of four manuscripts, positioned within the field of economic geography. Manuscript one broadly examined how precarious forms of employment (PFEs) are spatially patterned within multiple scales and across a range of geographies. The results suggested that different PFEs exhibited distinct spatial patterns across space and scale. For example, temporary and involuntary part-time work was more prevalent in Atlantic Canada and became gradually less prevalent moving westward. In contrast, part-time employment and employment in multiple jobs were more common in western Canada than in central and Atlantic Canada. The results also confirmed that all PFEs (except for involuntary-part-time work) were more common in rural and small-town areas, and less common in large urban areas. Second, using logistic regression models, results showed that the prevalence of PFEs was reinforced by factors such as immigration status, gender, age, education, and income. These models further confirmed that spatial patterns of PFEs were robust in finer scales i.e. CMAs (census metropolitan areas) and urban/rural geographies even when controlling for socio-demographic and socio-economic effects. Manuscripts two and three builds on the findings in manuscript one by examining how PFEs are spatially patterned across social locations of gender and immigration status, respectively. Results showed that the east-west and urban-rural patterns observed in manuscript one were partially distorted when the analyses were disaggregated by gender and immigration status. The robustness of these spatial distortions was confirmed using logistic regression models. The fourth manuscript sought to understand the spatial characteristics influencing the spatial variations of temporary employment using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models. Key findings revealed that CMA/CAs (census metropolitan areas/census agglomerations) characterized by large shares of manufacturing, utility, and management occupations were significantly negatively associated with temporary employment. Conversely, CMA/CAs with high shares of sales and service occupations were positively associated with temporary employment. Generally, population characteristics (measured by metropolitan areas characterized by a high share of Asian immigrants, low-income earners, and employment insurance beneficiaries) contributed more to explaining positive temporary employment estimates than industry characteristics. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This study explored the relationship of each partner's immigration stress and exposure to traumatic life experiences, with both his or her own problem drinking and the partner's problem drinking. The study was guided by Bodenmann's systemic-transactional stress model and used secondary data collected in 2009 from 104 Latino immigrant couples living in the Washington DC area. Results from the path model analysis indicated that even though men's overall immigration stress was not significantly related to their own problem drinking, emotional dimensions of immigration stress were in a positive direction. Men's overall immigration stress was negatively related to their partners' problem drinking. The women's overall immigration stress was significantly and positively related to their own problem drinking, particularly for acculturation related aspects and stress from missing family, but it was not significantly related to their partner's problem drinking. Additionally, men's exposure to traumatic life experiences was significantly, positively associated with problem drinking but it was not significantly associated with their own overall immigration stress. For women, results were different as exposure to traumatic life experiences was not associated with their own problem drinking but it was significantly and positively related to their overall immigration stress in the hypothesized direction. Limitations, research, and clinical implications of the findings are discussed. / Master of Science