Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Vincent R. Amanor-Boadu / Women represent approximately 50 percent of the active labor force in Sub-Saharan Africa. Even though women are involved in a variety of agricultural activities, they have limited access to resources and have restricted decision-making power compared to their male counterparts (FAO, 2011). These limitations and restrictions are likely to have a significant effect on women’s performance levels compared to men. The present research measures the gender-based performance differences, identifies factors that influence the financial performance levels, and factors contributing to generate disparities between male and female smallholders performance in northern Ghana. Data used in this study are from the Agriculture Production Survey (APS) focusing on the 2013-2014 cropping season. The study uses the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition method to measure and decompose the gender performance gap in two parts: endowment effect and structural effect. Gross margin is used to measure farmer’s financial performance. The endowment effect is attributed to differences in the explanatory variables, and the structural effect is associated with differences in returns of the explanatory variables. Results from the study indicate there is a gender gap between male and female smallholder farmers with male farmers outperforming females by 46 percent. Land area had the largest significant impact on the explained part of the gender gap, followed by tractor service. The endowment effect portion of the decomposition models is accounted for 35 percent of the gender gap, and the remaining 65 percent is associated with the structural effect. The larger structural effect part suggests that developing programs to establish equality among male and female smallholder producers in terms of access to resources will not close the gender gap. Additionally, factors contributing positively overall to gross margin of smallholder farmers were land area, and tractor services and crops produced. Based on the results of this research, policymakers and agribusiness stakeholders may look to reduce the gender gap existing between smallholder farmers in northern Ghana by empowering women by providing them access to land area and tractor services. Further research into factors affecting the gender gap in financial performance in agricultural activities is warranted.

Drawing on European Social Survey, the main objective of this essay is to analyse the difference in the probability of being unemployed between natives and foreign born in Sweden. Using traditional statistical methods such as Linear Probability Model (LPM) and Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition and controlling for standard socio-economic variables we found that immigrants born in Europe have 5.3 percentage point higher likelihood of being unemployed compared to their Swedish counterpart. Regarding non-European we found that they have 5.2 percentage points higher probability of being unemployed compared to Swedish counterpart. An extension of BlinderOaxaca decomposition suggests that 4.9 percentage points of this gap is due to differences in endowment characteristics between immigrants born in Europe and Swedish counterpart. The difference in the characteristics between nonEuropean and natives amounts to 5.3 percentage points. On the other hand, approximately 1.5 and 10.3 percentage points of the differences in the unemployment probability between immigrants born in Europe and countries outside Europe and Swedish counterpart can be ascribe to different returns to those observable and/or unobservable characteristics that are not captured in the models.

Esta dissertação analisa os impactos de fatores socioeconômicos e psicossociais sobre a prevalência da depressão no Brasil através de modelos probit e da decomposição de Oaxaca-Blinder aplicados às bases de dados dos suplementos de saúde da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD Saúde) e da Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde 2013 (PNS 2013). Neste trabalho, foram usados dois critérios básicos de identificação de indivíduos deprimidos: os que referiram ter recebido o diagnóstico de depressão de algum profissional de saúde e os que obtiveram um escore superior a 4 no teste PHQ-9 (cujas perguntas constam na PNS 2013). Foram obtidos resultados estatisticamente significativos, evidenciando a maior probabilidade da depressão entre mulheres e a relação inversa do transtorno com as variáveis renda domiciliar, desemprego, escolaridade e idade. Fatores como doenças físicas, doenças mentais e deficiências demonstraram uma relação direta com a depressão, embora as quantificações de suas magnitudes tenham sido sensíveis à especificação dos modelos. Também mostraram uma relação direta com o transtorno depressivo variáveis associadas a traumas e estresse emocional (como ter perdido um filho, ter sofrido algum tipo de violência, ter um filho com problemas de saúde, etc.). Outras variáveis como raça e região geográfica apresentaram resultados ambivalentes, também sensíveis às diferentes especificações de modelo. Ainda, variáveis referentes ao mercado de trabalho como o tipo de vínculo empregatício e setor de atividade apresentaram resultados inconclusivos. Por fim, outra conclusão importante foi que o critério de identificação dos indivíduos com depressão é determinante nos resultados. / This dissertation analyses the impacts of socioeconomic and psychosocial factors over the prevalence of depression in Brazil through probit models and the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition applied to the data in Brazilian National Household Survey Health Supplement (PNAD Saúde) and the National Health Survey (PNS 2013). In this dissertation, two basic criteria were used to identify individuals with depression: those who declared to have received a depression diagnosis from a health professional and those who scored more than 4 in the PHQ-9 depression test (whose questions are included in PNS 2013). Statistically significant results were found, showing a higher probability of depression among women and an inverse relationship between the disorder and household income, unemployment, education and age. Factors such as chronic physical diseases, mental illnesses and deficiencies have showed a direct relationship with depression, although the quantification of such effects had a rather high sensitivity to model specification. Also, variables associated with emotional stress (such as having lost a child, being victim of some sort of violence, having a child with health problems) showed a direct relationship with depressive disorder. Other variables such as race and geographic region showed ambivalent results also very sensitive to different model specifications. Furthermore, labor market variables like type of work contract and activity sector show inconclusive results. Finally, another important finding is that the criteria for identifying individuals with depression were determinant for the results and conclusions.

Zugl.: Dortmund, Univ., Diss., 2005

Techn. Universiẗat, Diss., 2005--München.

Esta dissertação analisa os impactos de fatores socioeconômicos e psicossociais sobre a prevalência da depressão no Brasil através de modelos probit e da decomposição de Oaxaca-Blinder aplicados às bases de dados dos suplementos de saúde da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD Saúde) e da Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde 2013 (PNS 2013). Neste trabalho, foram usados dois critérios básicos de identificação de indivíduos deprimidos: os que referiram ter recebido o diagnóstico de depressão de algum profissional de saúde e os que obtiveram um escore superior a 4 no teste PHQ-9 (cujas perguntas constam na PNS 2013). Foram obtidos resultados estatisticamente significativos, evidenciando a maior probabilidade da depressão entre mulheres e a relação inversa do transtorno com as variáveis renda domiciliar, desemprego, escolaridade e idade. Fatores como doenças físicas, doenças mentais e deficiências demonstraram uma relação direta com a depressão, embora as quantificações de suas magnitudes tenham sido sensíveis à especificação dos modelos. Também mostraram uma relação direta com o transtorno depressivo variáveis associadas a traumas e estresse emocional (como ter perdido um filho, ter sofrido algum tipo de violência, ter um filho com problemas de saúde, etc.). Outras variáveis como raça e região geográfica apresentaram resultados ambivalentes, também sensíveis às diferentes especificações de modelo. Ainda, variáveis referentes ao mercado de trabalho como o tipo de vínculo empregatício e setor de atividade apresentaram resultados inconclusivos. Por fim, outra conclusão importante foi que o critério de identificação dos indivíduos com depressão é determinante nos resultados. / This dissertation analyses the impacts of socioeconomic and psychosocial factors over the prevalence of depression in Brazil through probit models and the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition applied to the data in Brazilian National Household Survey Health Supplement (PNAD Saúde) and the National Health Survey (PNS 2013). In this dissertation, two basic criteria were used to identify individuals with depression: those who declared to have received a depression diagnosis from a health professional and those who scored more than 4 in the PHQ-9 depression test (whose questions are included in PNS 2013). Statistically significant results were found, showing a higher probability of depression among women and an inverse relationship between the disorder and household income, unemployment, education and age. Factors such as chronic physical diseases, mental illnesses and deficiencies have showed a direct relationship with depression, although the quantification of such effects had a rather high sensitivity to model specification. Also, variables associated with emotional stress (such as having lost a child, being victim of some sort of violence, having a child with health problems) showed a direct relationship with depressive disorder. Other variables such as race and geographic region showed ambivalent results also very sensitive to different model specifications. Furthermore, labor market variables like type of work contract and activity sector show inconclusive results. Finally, another important finding is that the criteria for identifying individuals with depression were determinant for the results and conclusions.

Esta dissertação analisa os impactos de fatores socioeconômicos e psicossociais sobre a prevalência da depressão no Brasil através de modelos probit e da decomposição de Oaxaca-Blinder aplicados às bases de dados dos suplementos de saúde da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD Saúde) e da Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde 2013 (PNS 2013). Neste trabalho, foram usados dois critérios básicos de identificação de indivíduos deprimidos: os que referiram ter recebido o diagnóstico de depressão de algum profissional de saúde e os que obtiveram um escore superior a 4 no teste PHQ-9 (cujas perguntas constam na PNS 2013). Foram obtidos resultados estatisticamente significativos, evidenciando a maior probabilidade da depressão entre mulheres e a relação inversa do transtorno com as variáveis renda domiciliar, desemprego, escolaridade e idade. Fatores como doenças físicas, doenças mentais e deficiências demonstraram uma relação direta com a depressão, embora as quantificações de suas magnitudes tenham sido sensíveis à especificação dos modelos. Também mostraram uma relação direta com o transtorno depressivo variáveis associadas a traumas e estresse emocional (como ter perdido um filho, ter sofrido algum tipo de violência, ter um filho com problemas de saúde, etc.). Outras variáveis como raça e região geográfica apresentaram resultados ambivalentes, também sensíveis às diferentes especificações de modelo. Ainda, variáveis referentes ao mercado de trabalho como o tipo de vínculo empregatício e setor de atividade apresentaram resultados inconclusivos. Por fim, outra conclusão importante foi que o critério de identificação dos indivíduos com depressão é determinante nos resultados. / This dissertation analyses the impacts of socioeconomic and psychosocial factors over the prevalence of depression in Brazil through probit models and the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition applied to the data in Brazilian National Household Survey Health Supplement (PNAD Saúde) and the National Health Survey (PNS 2013). In this dissertation, two basic criteria were used to identify individuals with depression: those who declared to have received a depression diagnosis from a health professional and those who scored more than 4 in the PHQ-9 depression test (whose questions are included in PNS 2013). Statistically significant results were found, showing a higher probability of depression among women and an inverse relationship between the disorder and household income, unemployment, education and age. Factors such as chronic physical diseases, mental illnesses and deficiencies have showed a direct relationship with depression, although the quantification of such effects had a rather high sensitivity to model specification. Also, variables associated with emotional stress (such as having lost a child, being victim of some sort of violence, having a child with health problems) showed a direct relationship with depressive disorder. Other variables such as race and geographic region showed ambivalent results also very sensitive to different model specifications. Furthermore, labor market variables like type of work contract and activity sector show inconclusive results. Finally, another important finding is that the criteria for identifying individuals with depression were determinant for the results and conclusions.

Wage dispersion is one of the social and economic issues arousing public concern in Hong Kong. There are many studies exploring the possible causes and changes in wage dispersion. They often focus on the study of summary measures such as Gini and Theil indexes, or adopt OLS-based regression approach. In foreign studies on wage dispersion, Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, originated from Oaxaca (1974) and Blinder (1973), is a common method of decomposing changes or differences in mean wages between two groups into wage structure effect and composition effect, and then further decomposing the two effects into contributions of each control variable. Nevertheless, focusing on summary measures or decomposing mean wages can just give people an insight into the causes and changes in general wage dispersion but not the entire wage distribution. As pointed out by Chi, Li and Yu (2007), the estimation of the entire wage distribution and decomposition of the distributional changes in wage dispersion has been attracting the attention of labour economists. This thesis adopts a distributional approach proposed by Firpo, Fortin and Lemieux (2007) to study the changes in wage dispersion of Hong Kong since 1980s. The FFL approach comprises a two-stage procedure. Firstly, changes in dispersion are divided into wage structure effect and composition effect without directly estimating a wage-setting model. This is done by doing a proper reweighting to obtain counterfactual wage vectors. Kernel density estimation is used for visualizing the wage distribution in different years and the counterfactuals; secondly, novel recentered influence function (RIF) regressions across quantiles are performed to further decompose the two effects into contributions of each control variable. The findings are outlined as follows: first, there was an increase in wage dispersion over the whole wage distribution from 1980s but a decrease from 2001 to 2006; second, the composition effect dominates the wage structure effect over years; third, changes in the distribution of characteristics and the returns to these characteristics are highly responsive to each other, suggesting that our labour market is highly responsive to structural changes; fourth, The common wage-determining factors may not be able to explain the earnings-profile of low wage earners well. In brief, the development of the economy since 1980s increased the wage dispersion over years. Nevertheless, the economic downturn due to external shocks and internal unfavourable events and general skill-upgrading in labour-intensive industries decreased the wage dispersion since 2000s.

Everywhere around the world, whether in developing or developed countries, women earn less than men. This phenomenon is in no way new and it has been investigated for many years. Still, in today’s modern society, the wage gap does not appear to be closing. In times of economic instability, such as the economic crisis, the progress towards equality may be pushed back, since specific groups, sectors, and occupations may be affected differently. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the Italian gender wage gap with a closer look at the fluctuations during the period of the financial crisis. In order to analyse and understand the fluctuations of the pay gap, the three main theories used in the research are the human capital theory, occupational segregation, and theories regarding the labour market structure. By applying the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition method, this study analyses to what extent the gap could be explained by differences in observable characteristics, such as level of education or age, and how much remains unexplained. The empirical model is applied to the Italian Survey of Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) microdata between the period of 2002 and 2016. The main findings show that the Italian gender wage gap, for the most part, remains unexplained. This indicates that the differentials in pay cannot be accounted for by differences in observable characteristics, such as education, age, contract type. The results of this research show that the Italian wage gap was, to some extent, negatively affected by the financial crisis. Furthermore, implemented austerity measures were found not to have significant negative impacts on the gap, which only increased in the initial phase of the crisis.

本研究主旨是從人力資本理論以及勞動市場條件的觀點，來探討原、漢族群的工資不平等之現象根源。長久以來，原住民從成長、學校教育，到進入職場，莫不受各種條件的不足所制，以至於與主流社會的社經處境有難以克服的落差。本研究採用2007年「社會變遷基本調查第五期第三次」階層組以及休閒組調查，和2007年「臺灣原住民社會變遷與政策評估調查研究」，三筆具代表性且規模相近的面訪資料、共2393位私部門受雇者來加以比較。透過群體加權校正，本研究首先透過多元迴歸與交互作用分析，來探討兩族群的人力資本和勞動市場條件與工資取得高低之間的關係。接著，再以經Heckman校正Blinder-Oaxaca差異分解，來分析兩族群工資落差中的結構與現象差異。 研究結果顯示，人力資本和勞動市場條件能說明原住民族與漢人之間，確有工資上的族群歧視現象。原住民教育的工資報酬率在義務教育階段後即無顯著效果，而不同於漢人能持續成長；不論是年資、職業聲望或是工作型態，原住民的工資報酬率都顯著也比漢人低落，且影響更勝教育差異。這些現象即使是在差異分解校正結構差異後依舊存在。是故，既有量化研究除了從教育面向來探討原、漢族群社經不平等之外，實應持續重視原住民族進入職場後，所面對的勞動市場問題。 / The aim of this research is to study the wage gap between aborigines and Han Chinese in Taiwan. The research explores the impacts of human capital and labor market conditions on the wage gap. Throughuot the life course trajectories of schooling and labor market participation, aborigines in Taiwan persistently face dire straits, resulting in insurmountable soci-economic gaps with Han Chinese. The data sources of the research are from Taiwan Social Changy Survey (TSCS) 2007, Phase 5, Wave 3: The Social Stratification module and The Leisure Time module, and Social Change and Policy of Taiwanese Indigenous Peoples Survey (TIPS) 2007, which are representative to the adult population in Taiwan. The total sample sizes are 2393 employees in private sector and roughly equal in size between two ethnics. With weighting, regression interaction effects were estimated to analyze the impacts of human capital and labor market conditions on wage differences between aborigines and Han Chinese. Moreover, the research uses two-steps Heckman selection model to correct selection bias of labor marke participation as well as Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition to analyze the ethnic disparities in wage. The finding of interaction models show that human capital and labor market conditions can explain the wage gap and reveal the negative effects of discrimination against aborigines. While only the compulsory education has positive effects on aborigines’ wage, Han Chinese could benefit from all stage of education. Job tenures, occupational prestiage, and employment types are more benefitical to Han Chinese than to aborigines, and the impacts of these factors on wage are greater than education. These results are also consistent with decomposition analysis. Other than education inequality, the finding of this research suggests that future studies of ethnic disparities in soci-economic inequality should concern more about ethnic differences in labor market conditons.