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Various macroeconomic effects resulted from the changing economic and societal structure in the second half of the 20th century, which greatly impacted women's economic position in the United States. Using dynamic programming as the main modeling tool, and U.S. data for factual evidence, three papers are developed to test the validity of three related hypotheses focusing on female employment, education, marriage, and divorce trends. The first chapter estimates how much of the post-World War II evolution in employment and average wages by gender can be explained by a model where changing labor demand requirements are the driving force. I argue that a large fraction of the original female employment and wage gaps in mid-century, and the subsequent shrinking of both gaps, can be explained by labor reallocation from brawn-intensive to brain-intensive jobs favoring women's comparative advantage in brain over brawn. Thus, aggregate gender-specific employment and wage gap trends resulting from this labor reallocation are simulated in a general equilibrium model. The material in the second chapter is based on an ongoing joint project with Fatih Guvenen. We argue for a strong link between the rise in the proportion of educated women and the evolution of the divorce rate since mid-century. As women become increasingly educated their bargaining power within marriage rises and their economic situation in singlehood improves making marriage less attractive and divorce more attractive. Similarly, a change in the divorce regime (e.g., U.S. unilateral divorce laws in the 1970s), making marriages less stable, incentivizes women to seek education as insurance against the higher divorce risk. A framework that models the interdependence between education, marriage and divorce is developed, simulated, and contrasted against United States data evidence. The third chapter considers the implications of marital uncertainty on aggregate household savings behavior. To this end, an infinite horizon model withperpetual youth that features uncertainty over marriage quality is developed. Similarly to Cubeddu and Ríos-Rull (1997), I test how much of the savings rate decline from the 1960s to the 1980s can be explained by the changing United States demographic composition, specifically the rise in divorce rates and the fall in marriage rates. / text

This thesis first presents a general procedure for decomposing income inequality measures by income source. The first method draws on the literature of ethical social index numbers to construct a decomposition based on a weighted sum of the inequality indices for the respective component distributions. The second method is based on the Shap- ley value of transferable utility cooperative games. The ethical and technical properties of the decompositions are examined, showing that the interactive technique has some previously known decompositions as special cases. In the third chapter I examine the contribution of differences in educational attain- ment to earnings inequality using the interactive decomposition by factor sources, intro- duced in chapter two, of the Atkinson-Kolm-Sen inequality index. I first use an estimated sample-selection model to decompose predicted labour earnings of a random sample of Canadians into a base level and a part due to returns to education. I do this decomposi- tion once ignoring the effect education has on the probability of being employed and once accounting for this fact. I then calculate the contribution of these two sources of earnings to inequality measured by a S-Gini index of relative inequality for the full sample as well as two separate age cohorts. The results indicate that approximately one half to two thirds of measured inequality can be directly attributed to returns to education while the interaction between the two sources post-secondary. The fourth chapter uses the earnings model from the third chapter to conduct policy simulations for broadly based policies, low targeted policies, and high targeted policies. I demonstrate that the policies targeting low education individuals produce a larger increase in social welfare than do the other two types of policy.

Education under the apartheid system was governed by the notion of separate development for each race. After the democratic elections in 1994, education policy has undergone numerous changes. The current Department of Education (DoE) is tasked with the responsibility of ensuring quality education to both advantaged and disadvantaged schools in order to eradicate the inequality fostered by the education policies of the apartheid regime. The inability of parents to pay for school fees was identified as the key determinant in access to schooling. So, although access to equal standards of education was theoretically equal, not all eligible children were attending school. To remedy this situation the Department of Education presented a broad policy statement in which it pledged to provide free education to those who could not afford school fees. This became part of the Education Laws Amendment Bill (2004) and is referred to as the no-fee schools policy. The no-fee schools policy was introduced in 2006 and is currently implemented at approximately 14 000 schools (Department of Education, 2006). Newspaper articles such as"Schools Run Out of Money" which appeared in the Mail and Guardian (13 May 2007) suggest that the no-fee schools are experiencing implementation problems. The aim of this study is to determine why this is so. This aim was achieved by firstly examining the literature on policy, policy implementation and street-level bureaucrats by consulting secondary sources such as Lipsky (1980) who examines public service workers, Parsons (1995) and Pressman and Wildavsky (1983) who examined a number of factors that influence policy implementation. Secondly, the policy framework for education in South Africa was then determined by analysing government legislation. Thirdly, primary data was collected from four schools in the Ukhahlamba region in KwaZulu-Natal that have been categorised by the Department of Education as no-fee schools. The primary data was then analysed by: (a) looking for references to the theoretical concepts discussed and (b) determining the degree of congruence between the legislative framework and the manner in which the policy is being implemented. The main finding of this research project was that schools do not posses the necessary capacity to implement the no-fee policy in its current form. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.

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The purpose of the study was to determine at the school district level, what relationships exist, if any, between Indiana school corporation SAT mean scores (a limited output measure of student achievement and aptitude) and six intervening input variables: (1) operating expenditures per pupil, (2) instructional expenditures per pupil, (3) per capita income, (4) corporation enrollment size, (5) degree of population density, and (6) at-risk index characteristics.The study provided a review of the research and related literature on relationships between high school SAT scores, public school expenditures and other intervening input variables. The study addressed questions about relationships and effects of expenditures and other input variables upon SAT scores. The need to examine individual district variation in SAT performance was motivated by the influence comparisons of SAT scores have on public perception of education and the resultant impact on state and local education policy.A principal goal of the study was to add to the understanding of the relationships between public expenditures directed to education, specific demographic and compositional student characteristics, and education performance as measured in SAT mean scores.The study incorporated Pearson product moment correlations and stepwise multiple regression procedures to determine the existence of variation in outputs accounted for by variation in the specific inputs. Initially a Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated to test each of the six null hypotheses. Statistical significance was sought in each instance at the .01 level. Stepwise multiple regressions were then used to examine the SAT output relationships with compounded variables.The following conclusions were drawn from the findings and the summary tables reported in the study: 1. Low per capita income is associated with a decline in SAT scores and higher per capita income to associate with higher SAT scores.2. Increased performance on the SAT is not dependent upon the amount spent in total General Fund expenditures per pupil, however, an increased amount spent on instruction tends to raise SAT scores.3. A high at-risk index presence is associated with lower SAT scores whereas a low at-risk index tends to be associated with higher SAT scores.4. Urban density does not effect SAT scores in a statistically significant manner.5. The size of the school corporation has no relationship to SAT scores.Overall total General Fund expenditures were not shown to significantly affect SAT scores, although such costs were not shown to be detrimental in the multiple regression analysis. More importantly, instructional expenditures per student were demonstrated to be one of three significant factors affecting higher SAT scores. The other significant variables were poverty and high at-risk factors, which were shown to be associated with lower SAT score levels.The data and the study strongly suggest that, if school authorities, legislatures, private business and parents continue to use the SAT scores as a prime barometer and target for educational success, we should immediately begin to compensate dramatically for the atrisk and per capita income deficits in individual students and impacted schools, and maximize financial resources into proven classroom instructional strategies. If the public wishes to narrow the gap in SAT scores, then policy makers need to examine the educational-environmental liabilities of low income, single parent home, and the appropriate level of instructional cost which will generate acceptable SAT results. / Department of Educational Leadership

The purposes of the study were: (1) to identify schools and/or school districts in which extended school year or year-round school programs were currently in operation in each of the fifty states of the United States of America; (2) to identify schools and/or school districts in the United States of America where year-round or extended school year programs had been implemented and abandoned since 1956; (3) to identify schools and/or school districts in the United States of America in which year-round or extended school year programs were to be implemented in the near future; (4) to determine the type of extended school year or year-round programs and variations of programs conducted or to be conducted in each school district identified as part of the study population; (5) to determine the extent to which each year-round or extended school year design or variation of a design had or had not permitted district officials to achieve a common set of year-round school objectives found in the literature and presented in Chapters I, II, and III of the study.The investigation was conducted in two phases. Both phases were conducted by survey questionnaire instruments.

Graduate unemployment, more specifically the continued inability of young people to make a successful transition from institutions of higher learning to labour markets, remains a key concern and one of the most pressing socio-economic issues facing South Africa. Of similar concern, has been the inordinate length of time it takes for graduates (particularly black graduates) to acquire employment. This research study was undertaken in an attempt to understand employment trends among black graduates: its specific aim is to determine, the length of time it takes for black graduates to acquire employment after graduation. As a secondary aim the study also seeks to determine the underlying causes of long-lasting unemployment. The study investigated the employment circumstances involving a sample of 40 graduate participants from Motherwell Township: it was discovered that it took from 1-3 years for the respondents to acquire employment. The study also found that relative to their male counterparts it took much longer for female graduate participants to acquire employment. It also emerged that the type of qualification possessed by the graduates was a determining factor in the likelihood of their gaining employment timeously.