This dissertation consists of three chapters which as a whole address development issues in Nigeria. These chapters relate to issues on conflicts, rural labor, education, weather shocks, health, and aid. Chapter 1 studied the effects of conflicts on the labor adjustment patterns of rural households in Northern part of Nigeria. I relied on variation in the conflict incidence and employed the use of instrumental variable technique in order to identify the effect of conflict on several household labor variables. The result reveals that conflict within 20km radius of household has led to adjustment of labor away from agriculture to nonagricultural sectors. Also, it has led to substitution of household agricultural labor with hired labor. The demand pressure on hired labor was also found to have increased the wage rates of agricultural hired labor. Chapter 2 investigates the effects of conflicts, depending on the nature, on educational attainment of individuals in Nigeria. Specifically, I looked at how two forms of conflicts with different nature and perpetrators - Boko Haram insurgence and Farmers and Herders conflict – affects educational attainments in Nigeria. I employed the Difference-in-Difference (DiD) technique and found that both forms of conflict hurts completed years of education of individuals that are exposed to them. However, the magnitude of the effects of farmers and herders conflict tends to be larger than that of boko haram insurgence. Chapter 3 studies the effectiveness of World Bank aid projects in reducing the adverse effects of weather shocks on children’s health in Nigeria. The study revealed that children’s’ exposure to weather shocks in their month of birth and in utero have adverse effects on their Weight-to-age- z-score (WAZ) and height-to-age z-score (HAZ). However, the availability of aid projects within 20km radius of these children helps to reduce such negative effects of such weather shocks.

This dissertation provides evidence of the return to education in Iran as well as measurement of inequality of opportunity and the Human Opportunity Index using cross-section data of Trends in Mathematics and Science Studies and Harmonized Household Income and Expenditure Surveys of several Middle Eastern Countries. The first chapter studies the return to education and the effect of school availability on education attainment in Iran. The Census 2006 allows us to get closer to the district of schooling by focusing on non-migrants. We estimate the return to education and the effect of school availability both for migrant and non-migrant sub-samples. We employ school availability as an instrument to correct the ability bias. We find availability of school increases women's education attainment more than men's and it is higher among the non-migrant sample. Using instrumental variable, the return to education is 6.50% in 2012 suggesting an upward bias in OLS. The second chapter provides estimates of Human Opportunity Index (HOI) in the Middle East and North Africa. Our estimates show the HOI improve over time in MENA region and compare favorably with similar measures computed for other regions, notably Latin America. Using Shapley decomposition, we find that parental background and place of living are the most important circumstances explaining inequality of opportunity to access in basic opportunities. Understanding the change in HOI and factors that influence it most complement existing analyses of inequality of opportunity in education, earning, and consumption for MENA countries because they focus on aspects of inequality of opportunity that are largely provided by the state. The third chapter provides estimates of inequality of educational opportunity using TIMSS dataset. We estimate the index of IOP using the ex-ante approach both for the fourth and eighth grade. The computed index of IOP shows that there is an improvement in IOP both for mathematics and science from grade four to eight. The investigations about relevant inputs suggest that there is a negative relationship between educational expenditure and the level of IOP. The relationship between the index of IOP and average economic growth as well as GDP per capita is positive. / Ph. D. / This dissertation provides evidence of the return to education in Iran as well as measurement of inequality of opportunity and the Human Opportunity Index using cross-section data of Trends in Mathematics and Science Studies and Harmonized Household Income and Expenditure Surveys of several Middle Eastern Countries. The first chapter studies the return to education and the effect of school availability on education attainment in Iran. The results show school availability has a positive and significant effect on women education attainment. We also estimate the rates of return to education for men between 25-60 years old in Iran in 2006 and 2012. Our findings show that the returns to schooling decline in Iran between 2006 and 2012. The second chapter provides estimates of Human Opportunity Index (HOI) in the Middle East and North Africa. Our estimates show the HOI improve over time in MENA region and compare favorably with similar measures computed for other regions, notably Latin America. The HOI evaluates the basic opportunities which mostly publicly provided. This makes the HOI relevant for understanding the effectiveness of MENA governments in providing children with an equal chance to succeed. Our findings show the HOI improves over time in MENA. The improvement over time is not surprising because as a service expands, especially if it starts inequitably, it generally covers more of the less advantaged households. The third chapter provides estimates of inequality of educational opportunity (IOP) using TIMSS dataset. We estimate the index of IOP using variance decomposition method. Our estimates show that in most countries of our sample the index of IOP increases from fourth grade to eighth grade suggesting the circumstances out of the control of an individual play important role in higher level of education. We investigate the correlational relationship between the index of IOP and some economic characteristics. Our findings suggest that there is a negative relationship between educational expenditure and the level of IOP. The relationship between the index of IOP and average economic growth as well as GDP per capita is positive.

<div>The first chapter quantitatively examines the impact of exporting countries' reputations for product quality on aggregate trade flows. I introduce a novel data set in which recall incidences retrieved from the Consumer Product Safety Commission are matched to U.S. import data from 1990-2009. Using a model of learning I construct a measure for exporter reputation where consumers internalize product recalls as bad signals. Structural estimation of the model finds that reputation is important and especially impactful for products used by children. The market share elasticity of exporter's reputation is around 1.49 across products, similar in magnitude to the average price elasticity, which is around 1.51. Improving reputation can increase export value, but reputation is sluggish: increasing reputation by 10\% can take decades for most exporters. Counterfactual exercises confirm that quality inspection institutions are welfare improving, and quality inspection is especially important for consumers of toys. </div><div> </div><div> The second chapter summarizes the correlation between export decisions of Chinese firms and product recalls for Chinese products. I use a new data set where I link recall data scraped from CPSC to monthly Chinese Customs Data. I found that recalls from previous months correlates negatively with the decision of export participation, but not with export value. </div><div> </div><div><br></div><div> The third chapter, coauthored with Kendall Kennedy and Xuan Jiang, analyzes how China's industrialization and the immediate export growth due to the Open Door Policy change Chinese teenagers' education decisions, which explains the education decline. We find that, middle school completion rates increased and high school completion rates decreased in response to export growth. This suggests a tradeoff between education and labor market opportunities in China. These education effects are more prominent for cohorts who were younger when China's Open Door Policy began, even though these teenagers also faced a stronger education system compared to the earlier cohorts. </div>

<p>Smoking is a health problem with a negative impact on virtually all body organs. Smoking can cause, for example, lung cancer, cancers in other organs and cardiovascular disease. There is also a social aspect of smoking. If individuals have many smokers in their environment, the risk to start smoking is increased, and for those who already smoke the chance of quitting will be less. Many municipalities today face smoke-free working to reduce smoking and passive smoking adverse effects. The Kristianstad municipality has not introduced smoke-free working. The purpose of this study was to investigate the employees in Kristianstad municipality attitudes to smoke-free working hours as a basis for a change. The method used was a quantitative cross-sectional study by questionnaire. The data collection was conducted in four administrations with a web questionnaire and the number of respondents was 207. The results showed that a majority of the employees in Kristianstad municipality wants to introduce smoke-free working. It was concluded that smoke-free working has strong links with smoking habits, the social environment and education.</p><p>Keywords: Smoking, attitude, social, educational attainment, participation.</p>

Smoking is a health problem with a negative impact on virtually all body organs. Smoking can cause, for example, lung cancer, cancers in other organs and cardiovascular disease. There is also a social aspect of smoking. If individuals have many smokers in their environment, the risk to start smoking is increased, and for those who already smoke the chance of quitting will be less. Many municipalities today face smoke-free working to reduce smoking and passive smoking adverse effects. The Kristianstad municipality has not introduced smoke-free working. The purpose of this study was to investigate the employees in Kristianstad municipality attitudes to smoke-free working hours as a basis for a change. The method used was a quantitative cross-sectional study by questionnaire. The data collection was conducted in four administrations with a web questionnaire and the number of respondents was 207. The results showed that a majority of the employees in Kristianstad municipality wants to introduce smoke-free working. It was concluded that smoke-free working has strong links with smoking habits, the social environment and education. Keywords: Smoking, attitude, social, educational attainment, participation.

The attainment of ethnic minority students in their host countries has been occupying a significant part of the international literature for many years. However, results suggest that no generalisations can be made on whether an ethnic minority group underachieves in a particular country and the reasons behind their attainment levels, unless that specific group has been investigated in the country in question. Cyprus joined the EU in 2004 and since then the demographic composition in the island changed dramatically; a change reflected in schools. The literature on ethnic minority group attainment in secondary schools in Cyprus is virtually non-existent and, as such, in this PhD programme the aim was to examine the attainment of ethnic minorities compared to native students and the reasons behind the observed patterns. In order to answer the research questions a series of studies were carried out. Initially, two quantitative studies were conducted. These studies used trimester grades as a proxy of attainment and Rasch analysis to turn these ordinal student grades into a linear scale. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analyses were then run to check for trends and significant associations. Two qualitative studies then followed. Firstly, a focus group study was conducted utilising the help of six young female teachers, all teaching classics to create a homogeneous group. Then followed an interview study utilising semi-structured interviews on sixteen teachers. For both studies a thematic analysis was undertaken on the transcribed discussions. Another quantitative study then followed which employed an enhanced methodology to the first two studies and richer data. The final study was a mixed methods study and concentrated on school absences. Results demonstrate the reality in lower secondary schools in Cyprus for the first time. The minority group Georgians, the first time that this group is met in the literature, and a combination of other smaller groups put together in a group called ‘Others’, are shown to achieve significantly lower than natives. Ethnic background, gender, generation status, absences, the socio-economic status of the family and the character of the local educational system were shown to be related to student attainment. The widely held belief that ethnic minority students do even worse in those subjects that are more language-dependent is disproven; rather it is the content of the subject that is felt to be more influential on attainment. Also, the recently emerging consensus that unexcused absences are more strongly associated with attainment than excused absences is not upheld in this study; a more detailed classification of unexcused absences might be responsible for this. Finally, it is interesting to note the differential influence of different absence variables on different school subjects. Findings highlight the need for change and improvement in the educational practice in Cyprus and add to both the local and international literature. The specific factors identified can form the basis on which to base suggestions for improvements and further research.

Lower educational attainment has been linked to worse chronic pain outcomes, but the reasons for this relationship are unclear. This study analyzed the relationship between level of education and pain outcomes in patients with musculoskeletal pain, and potential psychosocial mechanisms to explain this relationship. We hypothesized that patients with lower educational attainment would report greater pain intensity and interference, and that pain catastrophizing, anxiety, and depression would mediate the relationship between educational attainment and pain. A total of 843 participants (63% female, 78% White, Mage=55.13), diagnosed with a musculoskeletal pain condition [knee osteoarthritis (29%), back pain (57%), and fibromyalgia (14%)], completed questionnaires including demographics, Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scales (HADS). Pearson correlations and bootstrapped mediation analyses were conducted to examine the relationships among education, psychosocial, and pain variables. Education was inversely correlated with pain intensity and interference, pain catastrophizing, anxiety, and depression (p < .05). Pain catastrophizing significantly mediated the relationship between education and pain intensity (95%CI [-.05, -.01]), and catastrophizing and depression mediated the effects of education on pain interference (95% CI [-.08, -.01]; 95%CI [-.06, -.01]). Anxiety did not mediate either relationship. These findings indicate that greater pain catastrophizing, and in part depression, partly drive the relationship between lower educational attainment and worse pain outcomes. This work importantly aims to reduce pain disparities and provides direction for psychosocial treatment, suggesting that pain catastrophizing may be a particularly critical target in patients with lower education level. / 2026-02-23T00:00:00Z

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The aim of this thesis is to examine women's educational attainment and social mobility in contemporary South Korea. This study seeks to answer to the following key research questions: 1) how much parents' characteristics such as occupational status and educational attainment, are important to their children's education and class; 2) the roles of educational qualification to occupational attainment in contemporary South Korea; 3) whether South Korea has become a more equal society with improved mobility chances for people of different social origins; and, 4) if there is a general pattern of social mobility and social fluidity in South Korea, how it is related to the change in the occupational positions of women. This research uses the Korean Labour and Income Panel Study (KLIPS) from 1998 to look at the changing relationship between social origin, education, and destination and what it indicates the role of education in the social mobility in Korea. The following tools are used for the analysis: I adopt Goldthorpe's class schema and CASMIN scales of educational qualifications. I then separately look at the association for men and women separately. Various statistical methods are subsequently employed to explore the substantive research questions: I use descriptive analysis for changes of Korea's educational attainment and look at absolute rates of mobility. Disparity ratios and odds ratios are used for describing the relative patterns and chances of educational attainment and mobility and regression model are used for analysing the impact of a range of factors on educational attainment and class destination. Finally, I draw on log-linear and log-multiplicative analysis for the trends in relative mobility and social fluidity. I find that access to education is still influenced by social background. Although the disparities between men and women become narrower across cohort, class and gender differentials in general educational attainment still apply to South Korea. Regarding the relative mobility rates, the results from disparity ratios show that the social class and gender differentials in class mobility still exist and the results of odds ratios confirm that social origin has a significant effect on children's social class destination. Looking at the origin-education (OE) association, class differences are still considerable and the relationship between class origins and educational attainment remains. Turning to the association between educational attainment and occupational destination (ED), qualifications continue to play a critical role in entry into the labour market remains, but there is no evidence that the association between education and destination has strengthened over time. Looking at the direct association between origins and destination (OD), the evidence shows the continuing association of origins on destinations. Regression analysis shows that the origin class effects upon educational attainment and occupational destinations were not dramatically decreased, but there were significant changes for women but not for men. The findings from the log-linear and log-multiplicative analysis suggest that there is trendless fluctuation and a stronger link between education and destination for women than for men.