The essay consists of three chapters. In chapter 1, I find that wages in U.S. regions have been diverging instead of converging from 1975 onward. This coincides with the period of accelerating skill-biased technological change. A decomposition of the divergence rate indicates three channels underlying the divergence: (1) an ever-widening wage gap between college graduates and high school graduates, (2) an increasing within-education group wage differential across regions, and (3) a concentration of skill composition across local labor markets. I then developed an endogenous skill-biased technology adoption model in which firms invest capital more intensively in regions with higher employment share of college graduates, explaining these three channels jointly. Finally I quantitatively assess the model by separately calibrating the regional aggregate production function; the results show that the relative skilled-labor efficiency has been persistently higher in skill-abundant regions, nevertheless the countrywide skill-biased technological change, is the main force making divergence happening. Chapter 2 studies energy-saving technological change in U.S. manufacturing sector, whose intensive margin and extensive margins are identified. I find that energy and capital are mostly complementary to each other, while labor is substitutive to energy-capital composite. However, a Cobb-Douglas nesting of labor is rejected. Quantitative exercise shows that in the post-crisis period, within in industry energy-saving technological change accounts for the largest proportion of the aggregate sectoral energy efficiency promotion in the long run. In contrast, in the short run, factor adjustment combined with sectoral shift accounts for the largest proportion of energy intensity reduction. Lastly, I provide evidence that structural change has taken place around the oil crisis in 1970s, which is consistent with the existing literature. In chapter 3, I documented the increasing dispersion of skill composition across different areas in the U.S. Meanwhile, the U.S. Housing Market has experienced a dramatic increase in the housing price, as well as a similarly increase in its dispersion across metropolitan areas. A set of related stylized facts are documented in this paper. First, the real wage goes similarly as real housing prices, but quantitatively different. Second, the rents and housing prices have not been going in the exactly same way, in terms of first two moments. Third, we find that local income inequality is positively correlated to the local housing price level. Based on these observations, we build a model where a dispersed skill-biased technology change can account for all the phenomena at the same time. / Ph. D.

This dissertation studies a number of issues related to Development Economics. The first chapter explains how we can use multiple correspondence analysis to calculate an asset index, and then offers an inequality analysis using the asset index. The second chapter provides a theoretical explanation of an odd relationship between child labor and per capita land holding in a household, and then provides empirical evidence for the explanation. Finally, the third chapter represents the results of a study of the behavior of rural households during shocks. Across the entire dissertation, we use three cross sectional surveys, conducted in 2001, 2007-8 and 2010-11 in Zimbabwe. / Ph. D.

Many immigrants arrive in Canada from countries with different degrees of gender inequality. While Canada has relatively high levels of gender equality, many immigrant-origin countries are characterized by high levels of inequality between men and women. Studies show that source-country gender inequality negatively impacts immigrant women's socioeconomic outcomes in the host society. However, little is known about how source-country gender inequality impacts social aspects of immigrant adjustment in Canada. This dissertation examines how source-country gender inequality impacts acculturation, structural integration and identification. My analyses of data from the Ethnic Diversity Survey and General Social Surveys find that source-country gender inequality can benefit identification when measured by sense of belonging to Canada. In other cases, it can be a barrier when acculturation is measured by financial decision-making. Further, source-country gender inequality can have little impact on the structural integration of immigrants when measured by sport participation. The results suggest that source-country gender inequality affects immigrant men and women in complex and multifaceted ways. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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