published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

The present investigation examines the roles of women in the rapidly changing society of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and attempts to quantify and optimize their role as active contributors to the development of the country. The study starts out with a review of earlier work on women's roles in the Kingdom and then throws a more recent light on the subject by analyzing the current writings and comments in the popular press. Those findings are supplemented by direct interviews with samples from various segments of the Saudi population; answers are compared with similar inquiries by earlier researchers as well as with opinions expressed in the media. Since these results are primarily of a subjective nature the study then proceeds to quantify the role Saudi women play as educated and productive contributors to the development of the Kingdom. From published data a numerical framework is described, which is followed by a modelling effort, using the goal programming algorithm, aimed at optimizing the use of the female labor force in Saudi Arabia. Under present policies and as a result of social and traditional attitudes many of the labor market positions are now available for occupancy by Saudi women but they are filled by female or male imported labor. The impacts of selected changes in current manpower policies are analyzed.

In recent years, both global economic restructuring and the economic, political, and social implications of the urban landscape have been at the forefront of geographical inquiry. This dissertation links these two levels of analysis in an examination of industrial restructuring and the colonia labor force in El Paso. El Paso's economic role has been dramatically restructured. Once a center for natural resource extraction, the city is now an assembly site for labor intensive manufacturing activities. Data from a survey of 173 colonia households provide information regarding the colonia labor force. The low cost of housing and the malleability of colonias household structure allows colonia residents to accept minimal incomes and endure high rates of unemployment. In the colonias, a labor force characterized by its relative powerlessness in the American economy is created. The formation of the colonias is consonant with the restructuring of El Paso's economy.

This thesis examined the relationship between basic employment and derived employment for the Muncie Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area. The study also presented graphically, by use of monthly time series data from 1965 to 1972, employment growth patterns by industrial group. A conceptual model was developed relating the contributions of, basic employment to the growth of derived employment. The model also related the lagged, primary -secondary, and wage scale effects of basic employment upon derived employment. The model assumed that the earnings off workers in basic employment is a major determinant of derived employment growth. Total monthly earnings for each industrial group were specified as explanatory variables in a series of multiple regression equations to determine the various basic industries' contributions to the growth of derived employment. Five-year derived employment projections were computed assuming various growth rates in earnings for each of the significant basic industries. The study concluded that the growth of Ball State University employment (basic government) was the most significant factor effecting the growth of derived employment in the Muncie Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area.

MSc., Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011 / The purpose of the study is to investigate possible reasons as to why different surveys conducted by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) give different estimates of the percentages in the different employment categories. In order to investigate the different sources of variability, that is, surveys done in different years, surveys using different questionnaires, different sample designs and different employment profiles, the following comparisons were done for Gauteng and the Eastern Cape: • To compare estimates of employment status over time for the March Labour Force Survey (LFS) 2006 and 2007; September LFS 2006 and 2007; and General Household Survey (GHS) September 2006 and July 2007. • To compare estimates of employment status across surveys for LFS September 2006; GHS September 2006; and LFS September 2007, July GHS 2007 and Community Survey (CS) October 2007. In order to generate a set of comparable estimates across surveys and within surveys over time, this study identifies and addresses the various sources of potential non-comparability. The methodologies utilised are Chi-squared Automatic Detection (CHAID) and multinomial logistic regression. These statistical techniques were used to identify variables which are associated with employment status. The predictor variables included in the analysis are age group, highest level of education, marital status, population group, sex and source data. The results from CHAID for all data sets show that age group is the most significant predictor on which data on employment status can be segmented. At the root node (the first level of the CHAID tree), data was partitioned by the categories of age group. Highest level of education, sex, population group and province were significant within the categories of age group. Either province or population group was significant within the age group 20–29 years old depending on the data that is being analysed. Sex was most significant within the age group 50–65 years old. The results of multinomial regression show several significant interactions involving from five to seven factors for different data sets. The logistic regression results were not as good as those of the CHAID analyses, but both techniques give us an indication of the relationships between the predictor variables and employment. The analysis of the CS, LFS and GHS in 2007, when explaining employment status, split on age group. Highest level of education was the most significant predictor when comparing the three data sets. There are differences among the three data sets when explaining employment status. This is due to the use of different mid-year population estimates, differences in the instructions given in the questionnaire for CS 2007 and other surveys, as well as the sample size of the surveys. There are indeed significant differences between Gauteng and Eastern Cape in relation to employment status.

A Research report submitted to the School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Humanities University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the field of Demography and Population Studies for the year 2016 / INTRODUCTION: Youth labour force participation (YLFP) measures the level of economic activity among the youth. It is measured as the sum of all young people who are employed, unemployed or looking for work, as a percentage of the youth population. The weakening of the global recovery in 2012 and 2013 further aggravated the youth jobs crisis and the queues for available jobs have become longer for young jobseekers (ILO, 2013). This study examines the association between the level of education and labour force participation among the youth in South Africa. It also seeks to examine other socio-demographic factors influencing YLFP in the country. METHOD: Analysis of the data from a sample of 30144 youth aged 15-35 years who participated in the South African 2014 Quarterly Labour Force Survey was done using logistic regression models. In the multiple logistic regression, two models were used. Model 1 included the following variables: education level, age and gender whilst in model 2 this study controlled for: population group, type of residence and province because these socio-demographic factors influence youth labour force participation. RESULTS: When controlled for potential confounding effects of age, gender, type of residence, population group and province, youth with higher education were more likely to participate in labour force as compared to youth who have no or have primary education [(Q1: OR1 4.28, 95% CI2 3.74 to 4.90); (Q2: OR 4.34, 95% CI 3.78 to 4.97); (Q3: OR 3.91, 95% CI 3.41 to 4.48) & (Q4: OR 3.88, 95% CI 3.38 to 4.45)]. The association between education level and youth labour force participation was found to be statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Young people with tertiary qualifications in South Africa are more likely to participate in the labour force. The evidence from the study shows there is a higher risk of mismatch for youth at the bottom of the educational pyramid, which is reflected in relatively high unemployment rates for the low skilled in comparison with the high skilled / GR2017

Thesis advisor: Peter Gottschalk / Thesis advisor: Shannon Seitz / This dissertation contains two essays in labor economics. It provides a descriptive analysis on income volatility and develops a microeconomic model to study how married couples make joint decisions in response to such income volatility. The first essay examines the recent trends in household income volatility in the United States, West Germany and Great Britain, and compares household income volatility with individual income volatility. I estimate a formal error components model using the Cross-national Equivalence File from 1979 to 2004. I find that household income volatility, measured by the transitory variance of household income, accounts for more than half of the total income variance for all three countries. Despite the differences in the total household income variances among the three countries, the permanent variances converges since the late 1990s. The household earnings volatility is always lower than the individual earnings volatility for married couples, which suggests some evidence of intra-household insurance. In the second essay I examine whether married couples make joint labor supply decisions in response to each other's wage shocks. The study of this question aids in understanding the link between the recent rise in earnings volatility and household joint decisions. I develop an intra-household insurance model based on the collective framework, which allows for insurance against both permanent and transitory wage shocks from both partners. Estimation using Survey of Income and Program Participation shows that individuals increase labor supply in response to spouse's adverse wage shocks and such labor supply responses are larger when shocks are permanent than transitory. A household makes less transfer to the individual with more volatile income, which can be considered as a price for insurance.This intra-household insurance reduces earnings volatility by about 1.2% to 7.7%. These results suggest that joint labor supply decisions provide a smoothing effect on shocks to earnings and household income. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

Na atualidade existe uma necessidade de repensar políticas voltadas para o desenvolvimento devido a que o milagre resgitrado por os baby boomers no século passado começa a desaparecer. Por isto, o objetivo deste trabalho é medir o impacto econômico e demográfico dos elderly boomers sobre o crescimento económico, adicionando duas variáveis na equação geral de Solow- Swan. Além disso, medir o impacto da participação das mulheres na força de trabalho como uma das fontes possível para mitigar este declínio (separado por edade e sexo). Os principais ressultados foram: que evidenciá-se una redução do 34% no crecimento explicado pelo factor puramente demográfico (força laboral) em relação com o abservado nos anos 80-90. Evidenciáse também para o grupo de mulheres maiores de 25+ que tem um coeficiente negativo -0,24 (cresciemnto taxa de emprego) sobre o crescimento econômico (PIB per-capita), isto deve-se a que embora as mulheres tenham um maior crescimento em sua força laboral do que os homens, as mulheres empregadas não cresce na mesma proporção, isto em grande parte pela fraqueça institucional e ausência apertura econômica ainda na maioria dos países. / At present there is a necessity to rethink development policies because the miracle registered by the baby boomers in the last century begins to disappear. For this reason, the objective of this work is to measure economic and demographic impact of elderly boomers on economic growth by adding two variables in the general Solow-Swan equation. Also, measuring the impact of women participation in the workforce as one of the possible ways to mitigate this decline (disaggregate by sex and age). The main results were: a 34% reduction in growth explained by the purely demographic factor (labor force) in relation to the observed in the years 80-90. To group of women over 25+ who have a negative coefficient -0.24 (growth rate of employment) on economic growth (GDP per-capita), this is due to the fact that although women have a higher labor force growth than men, the number of women employments do not increase in the same proportion, this is largely due to institutional weakness and lack of economic openness in most countries.

Cette thèse étudie l’impact des normes de genre et des institutions sur les choix éducatifs, les décisions d’offre de travail et les préférences politiques. Dans le premier chapitre, nous nous intéressons à l’influence du genre des enfants sur les opinions de leurs pères en matière de droits des femmes. Nous montrons que la présence d’au moins une fille parmi les enfants est associée à des attitudes plus marquées contre l’avortement pour les pères de droite et inversement, plus favorables à l’avortement pour les pères de gauche. Nous développons un modèle théorique dans lequel les pères, qui ont des préférences paternalistes, ont tendance à adopter des positions politiques plus extrêmes lorsqu’ils ont une fille plutôt qu’un garçon. La partie empirique de l’analyse repose sur l’utilisation de deux nouvelles sources de données : une base biographique des députés français, et une enquête post-électorale au niveau européen. Nos résultats suggèrent que les filles polarisent les attitudes de leur père en matière de droit à l’avortement. Ces résultats réconcilient en partie les conclusions contradictoires des travaux récents sur l’influence des filles sur les opinions politiques de leurs pères. Le deuxième chapitre est issu d’un travail commun avec E. Duchini. Nous étudions les décisions d’offre de travail des femmes dans un contexte institutionnel qui limitait jusqu’à récemment leur capacité à bénéficier d’un emploi du temps régulier. Historiquement en France, les enfants en âge d’aller à l’école maternelle et primaire n’avaient pas classe le mercredi. Nous utilisons la réforme dites des rythmes scolaires comme « expérience naturelle ». Avant 2013, les femmes dont le plus jeune enfant était en âge d’aller à l’école élémentaire étaient deux fois plus nombreuses que les hommes à ne pas travailler le mercredi. Afin de mesurer la réaction de l’offre de travail des mères à la réforme, nous utilisons la variation de son application dans le temps et en fonction de l’âge du plus jeune enfant. Nos résultats montrent que la réforme a permis à un plus grand nombre de femmes de travailler le mercredi, entraînant, en moins de deux ans, une réduction d’un tiers de leur différentiel de participation ce jour de la semaine par rapport aux femmes du groupe de contrôle. Cet effet est essentiellement attribuable aux mères pour qui une présence régulière au travail est particulièrement profitable, comme celles qui travaillent à des postes d’encadrement. Le troisième chapitre présente les résultats d’une expérimentation avec assignation aléatoire conduite de septembre 2015 à février 2016 avec T. Breda, J. Grenet et M. Monnet. Cette expérimentation montre que l’intervention courte d’un modèle positif d’identification féminin (role model) peut influencer les attitudes des apprenants, et contribuer ensuite à modifier leur choix d’orientation. Dans un premier temps, nous présentons des éléments descriptifs sur les attitudes différenciées des filles et des garçons vis-à-vis des sciences, et sur l’importance des stéréotypes vis-à-vis des femmes dans les sciences chez les lycéens. A l’aide d’une assignation aléatoire des élèves dans un groupe traité et dans un groupe contrôle, nous étudions l’impact causal des modèles positifs d’identification sur les aspirations, les attitudes et les choix éducatifs. Ces modèles féminins extérieurs font baisser de manière significative la prévalence des visions stéréotypées associées aux métiers dans les sciences, tant chez les élèves filles que garçons. Le traitement n’a pas d’effet significatif sur le choix d’orientation des élèves de seconde, mais la proportion de filles qui s’orientent et sont admises en classe préparatoire scientifique après le lycée augmente de 3 points de pourcentage. Cet effet correspond à une augmentation de 30% par rapport à la moyenne du groupe de contrôle. Ces changements sont principalement attribuables aux élèves ayant les meilleurs résultats scolaires en mathématiques. / This dissertation examines the role of gender norms and institutions on human capital formation, labor supply, and political preferences. In the first chapter, I use both theoretical and empirical analysis to study the impact of offspring’s gender on their parental political beliefs toward gender issues. I examine the hypothesis that men’s political attitudes toward abortion do respond to the presence of a daughter, but differently according to their general political beliefs. This polarization effect of daughters means that the presence of a daughter is associated with more anti-abortion (respectively pro-abortion) views for right-wing (respectively left-wing) fathers. This argument is investigated in a simple economic model and its implications are studied empirically using two original datasets. The model predicts that fathers with paternalistic preferences adopt more extreme political positions when they have a daughter than when they have a son. The empirical investigation provides evidence of a polarization effect of daughters on fathers’ views on abortion. The magnitude of the effect corresponds to around 30% of the impact of right-wing political affiliation on abortion support. In the second chapter, together with E. Duchini, we investigate women’s employment decisions when institutions limit their chances of having a regular working schedule. We use a recent reform as a natural experiment to show that women do value flexibility when their children demand it. Before 2013, women whose youngest child was of primary school age were twice as likely as men not to work on Wednesdays. To measure mothers’ response, we exploit variations in the implementation of this policy over time and across the age of the youngest child. Our results show that, although mothers take advantage of the reform to close 1/3 of their initial gap in the probability of working on Wednesday with respect to the control group. This response seems to be driven by mothers who are more rewarded for a regular presence at work, such as those working in managerial positions. The third chapter reports the results of a large-scale randomized experiment showing that a light-touch, in-class intervention of external female role models, can influence students’ attitudes and contribute to a significant change in their choice of field of study. While the impact of peers and "horizontal exposure" on aspirations gained greater attention in the recent literature, surprisingly little is known about the impact of exposure to role models on students’ attitudes and schooling decisions. Together with T. Breda, J. Grenet and M. Monnet, we implemented and monitored a large-scale experiment in randomly selected high-school classes in France from September 2015 to February 2016. We first document gender differences in attitudes toward science, as well as the prevalence of stereotypical opinions with respect to women in science among high school students. Using random assignment of students to a one-hour intervention, we investigate the causal impact of role models on aspirations, attitudes, and educational investment. External female role models significantly reduce the prevalence of stereotypes associated to jobs in science, both for female and male students. Using exhaustive administrative data, we do not find significant effect of the treatment on the choices of year 10-students, but we show that the proportion of female students enrolled in selective science programs after high school graduation increases by 3 percentage points, which corresponds to a 30 percent-increase with respect to the baseline mean. These effects are essentially driven by high-achieving students.

Huang Ying. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 29-31). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 2. --- Literature Review --- p.3 / Chapter 3. --- Methodology --- p.7 / Chapter 3.1. --- Basic Model --- p.7 / Chapter 3.2. --- Instrumental Variable Strategy --- p.8 / Chapter 4. --- Data Description --- p.10 / Chapter 4.1. --- China Health and Nutrition Survey --- p.10 / Chapter 4.2. --- Sample Selection --- p.11 / Chapter 4.3. --- Variable Definition --- p.12 / Chapter 4.4. --- Summary Description of Samples --- p.14 / Chapter 5. --- The Effects of Health on Labor Supply --- p.15 / Chapter 5.1. --- Rural Adults --- p.15 / Chapter 5.2. --- Urban Adults --- p.19 / Chapter 5.3. --- Results --- p.22 / Chapter 6. --- The Effects of Health on Household Income --- p.23 / Chapter 7. --- Conclusion --- p.26 / References --- p.29 / Tables --- p.32 / Appendix --- p.66