Background – This study is an attempt to explore the relationship between microcredit and the socio-economic empowerment of women in rural Bangladesh. Microcredit is simply the extension of a small amount of collateral-free institutional loans to jointly liable poor group members to generate employment and income enhancing activities. As it is too difficult for poor members to get loan from the formal credit institutions, Grameen Bank (GB) or other Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) provide small loans to vulnerable groups of the society by which they are expected to empower over his counterparts. Research questions – RQ1: How does micro-credit affect different indicators of women empowerment in the rural areas of Bangladesh? RQ2– Is the impact different from the male counterparts in the sample households? Purpose – This study is an effort to find the impact of microcredit on a number of indicators of women’s empowerment in the rural areas in Bangladesh. Methodology – Quantitative Regression Techniques such as Ordinary Least Square (OLS) and Instrumental Variable (IV) method have been applied to get the relationship between microcredit and women empowerment. Conclusion – Applying nationally representative cross-section survey data, Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (BIHS) 2015, this thesis is intended to find the causal linkage between microcredit and women empowerment’s with different dimensions of women’s decisions are taken as empowerment indicators: production, resources, income, leadership, savings and time. The analysis has been conducted at the household level. The study assumes that women empowerment is endogenous. After controlling for endogeneity in the estimation by using an instrumental variable (IV) ‘distance to the market’ this study finds a significant relationship between microcredit and different dimensions of women’s empowerment. Participation in the microcredit program is found to be significant in explaining some of the outcome indicators of empowerment for the sampled households.

Thesis advisor: Laura M. O'Dwyer / Education researchers are frequently interested in examining the causal impact of academic services and interventions; however, it is often not feasible to randomly assign study elements to treatment conditions in the field of education (Adelson, 2013). When assignment to treatment conditions is non-random, the omission of any variables relevant to treatment selection creates a correlation between the treatment variable and the error in regression models. This is termed endogeneity (Ebbes, 2004). In the presence of endogeneity, treatment effect estimates from traditionally used regression approaches may be biased. The purpose of this study was to investigate the causal impact of an integrated student support model, namely City Connects, on student academic achievement. Given that students are not randomly assigned to the City Connects intervention, endogeneity bias may be present. To address this issue, two novel and underused statistical approaches were used with school admissions lottery data, namely Gaussian copula regression developed by Park and Gupta (2012), and Latent Instrumental Variable (LIV) regression developed by Peter Ebbes (2004). The use of real-world school admissions lottery data allowed the first-ever comparison of the two proposed methods with Instrumental Variable (IV) regression under a large-scale randomized control (RCT) trial. Additionally, the researcher used simulation data to investigate both the performance and boundaries of the two proposed methods compared with that of OLS and IV regression. Simulation study findings suggest that both Gaussian copula and LIV regression are useful approaches for addressing endogeneity bias across a range of research conditions. Furthermore, simulation findings suggest that the two proposed methods have important differences in their set of identifying assumptions, and that some assumptions are more crucial than others. Results from the application of the Gaussian copula and LIV regression in the City Connects school lottery admissions study demonstrated that receiving the City Connects model of integrated student support during elementary school has a positive impact on mathematics achievement. Such findings underscore the importance of addressing out-of-school barriers to learning. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Research, Measurement and Evaluation.

This paper aims to quantify the municipal tax revenue effects of built-up area increases. The assumed existence of these effects is one of the key reasons for ongoing land consumption on the side of the municipalities. Some previous case studies however suggested that these effects might be not large enough especially in rural municipalities and would thus make land development not profitable. We estimate the effect of built-up industrial and commercial (BIC) area change on the business tax revenues in cross-sectional instrumental variable (IV) estimations. Based on detailed data for Bavaria, we find a significant and positive tax revenue effect of an increase in municipal BIC area. There exist strong differences in the size of this effect between urban and rural municipalities. The largest effects are generated by the BIC area in the large cities and become substantially smaller when these are dropped from the sample. Based on these findings, we reflect on the tradable planning permits (TPP) scheme recently discussed in the land use literature in the context of policies aiming to limit land consumption. Furthermore, we relate our estimates to the average municipal costs for land development and execute a number of robustness checks.

This paper aims to quantify the municipal tax revenue effects of built-up area increases. The assumed existence of these effects is one of the key reasons for ongoing land consumption on the side of the municipalities. Some previous case studies however suggested that these effects might be not large enough especially in rural municipalities and would thus make land development not profitable. We estimate the effect of built-up industrial and commercial (BIC) area change on the business tax revenues in cross-sectional instrumental variable (IV) estimations. Based on detailed data for Bavaria, we find a significant and positive tax revenue effect of an increase in municipal BIC area. There exist strong differences in the size of this effect between urban and rural municipalities. The largest effects are generated by the BIC area in the large cities and become substantially smaller when these are dropped from the sample. Based on these findings, we reflect on the tradable planning permits (TPP) scheme recently discussed in the land use literature in the context of policies aiming to limit land consumption. Furthermore, we relate our estimates to the average municipal costs for land development and execute a number of robustness checks.

Submitted by Lucas Pimentel Vilela (lvilela@fgvmail.br) on 2013-10-07T17:22:14Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação Final.pdf: 665295 bytes, checksum: b54a14202e41e19e863a73328cfb2123 (MD5) Supplement.pdf: 2259071 bytes, checksum: 19718d483c50f35f3878c81521b0acf9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Janete de Oliveira Feitosa (janete.feitosa@fgv.br) on 2013-10-08T21:33:30Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação Final.pdf: 665295 bytes, checksum: b54a14202e41e19e863a73328cfb2123 (MD5) Supplement.pdf: 2259071 bytes, checksum: 19718d483c50f35f3878c81521b0acf9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2013-10-14T14:44:28Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação Final.pdf: 665295 bytes, checksum: b54a14202e41e19e863a73328cfb2123 (MD5) Supplement.pdf: 2259071 bytes, checksum: 19718d483c50f35f3878c81521b0acf9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-10-14T14:45:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação Final.pdf: 665295 bytes, checksum: b54a14202e41e19e863a73328cfb2123 (MD5) Supplement.pdf: 2259071 bytes, checksum: 19718d483c50f35f3878c81521b0acf9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-09-17 / This dissertation deals with the problem of making inference when there is weak identification in models of instrumental variables regression. More specifically we are interested in one-sided hypothesis testing for the coefficient of the endogenous variable when the instruments are weak. The focus is on the conditional tests based on likelihood ratio, score and Wald statistics. Theoretical and numerical work shows that the conditional t-test based on the two-stage least square (2SLS) estimator performs well even when instruments are weakly correlated with the endogenous variable. The conditional approach correct uniformly its size and when the population F-statistic is as small as two, its power is near the power envelopes for similar and non-similar tests. This finding is surprising considering the bad performance of the two-sided conditional t-tests found in Andrews, Moreira and Stock (2007). Given this counter intuitive result, we propose novel two-sided t-tests which are approximately unbiased and can perform as well as the conditional likelihood ratio (CLR) test of Moreira (2003). / Esta dissertação trata do problema de inferência na presença de identificação fraca em modelos de regresso com variáveis instrumentais. Mais especificamente em testes de hipóteses com relação ao parâmetro da variável endógena quando os instrumentos são fracos. O principal foco é nos testes condicionais unilaterais baseados nas estatísticas de razão de máxima verossimilhança, score e Wald. Resultados teóricos e numéricos mostram que o teste t condicional unilateral baseado no estimador de mínimos quadrados em dois estágios tem uma boa performance mesmo na presença de instrumentos fracamente correlacionados com a variável endógena. A abordagem condicional corrige uniformemente o tamanho do teste t e quando a estatística F populacional é tão pequena quanto dois, o poder do teste é próximo ao power envelope tanto de testes similares quanto de não similares. Tal resultado é surpreendente visto a má performance dos testes t’s condicionais bilaterais relatada em (6, Andrews, Moreira and Stock (2007)). Dado esse resultado aparentemente contra intuitivo, apresentamos novos testes t’s condicionals bilaterais que são aproximadamente não viesados e performam, em alguns casos, tão bem quanto o teste condicional baseado na estatística de razão de verossimilhança de ( 19 , Moreira (2003)).

Submitted by Gustavo Rabello de Castro (grdcastro@outlook.com) on 2016-01-17T15:36:58Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Final.pdf: 1716177 bytes, checksum: 6516904780e3dae7837ee9b481d63ba7 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by BRUNA BARROS (bruna.barros@fgv.br) on 2016-01-21T17:18:28Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Final.pdf: 1716177 bytes, checksum: 6516904780e3dae7837ee9b481d63ba7 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Almeida (maria.socorro@fgv.br) on 2016-02-11T17:59:08Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Final.pdf: 1716177 bytes, checksum: 6516904780e3dae7837ee9b481d63ba7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-11T17:59:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Final.pdf: 1716177 bytes, checksum: 6516904780e3dae7837ee9b481d63ba7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-04-28 / In this work we focus on tests for the parameter of an endogenous variable in a weakly identi ed instrumental variable regressionmodel. We propose a new unbiasedness restriction for weighted average power (WAP) tests introduced by Moreira and Moreira (2013). This new boundary condition is motivated by the score e ciency under strong identi cation. It allows reducing computational costs of WAP tests by replacing the strongly unbiased condition. This latter restriction imposes, under the null hypothesis, the test to be uncorrelated to a given statistic with dimension given by the number of instruments. The new proposed boundary condition only imposes the test to be uncorrelated to a linear combination of the statistic. WAP tests under both restrictions to perform similarly numerically. We apply the di erent tests discussed to an empirical example. Using data from Yogo (2004), we assess the e ect of weak instruments on the estimation of the elasticity of inter-temporal substitution of a CCAPM model. / Este trabalho trata de testes para o parâmetro de uma variável endógena em modelos de regressão com variáveis instrumentais fracas. Propomos uma nova restrição para o viés dos testes weighted average power (WAP), desenvolvidos em Moreira e Moreira (16, 2013). A motivação para essa nova restrição se baseia na eficiência do teste score sob a hipótese de identificação forte. Essa hipótese permite reduzir o custo computacional dos testes WAP, substituindo a restrição de strongly unbiased. Esta ultima demanda que, sob a hipótese nula, o teste seja ortogonal a uma dada estatística com sua dimensão dada pelo número de instrumentos. A restrição aqui proposta exige somente que o teste seja não correlacionado com uma combinação linear dessa estatística. Nas simulações, ambos os testes apresentam um desempenho numericamente similar. Aplicamos ainda os testes discutidos neste trabalho na estimação da elasticidade de substituição intertemporal de um modelo CCAPM.

Cette thèse étudie comment le taux de change effectif réel (TCER) et ses mesures associées (volatilité du TCER et désalignement du TCER) affectent la croissance de la productivité totale des facteurs (CPTF). Elle analyse également les canaux par lesquels le TCER et ses mesures associées agissent sur la productivité totale des facteurs (PTF). La première partie étudie comment le TCER lui-Même, d'une part, et la volatilité du TCER, d'autre part, influencent la productivité. Une analyse du lien entre le niveau du TCER et la PTF dans le chapitre 1 indique qu'une appréciation de taux de change cause une augmentation de la PTF. Mais cet impact est également non- inéaire: en-Dessous du seuil, le TCER influence négativement la productivité tandis qu'au-Dessus du seuil il agit positivement. Les résultats du chapitre 2 illustrent que la volatilité du TCER affecte négativement la CPTF. Nous avons également constaté que la volatilité du TCER agit sur PTF selon le niveau du développement financier. Pour les pays modérément financièrement développés, la volatilité du TCER réagit négativement sur la productivité et n'a aucun effet sur la productivité pour les niveaux très bas et très élevés du développement financier. La deuxième partie examine les canaux par lesquels le TCER et ses mesures associées influencent la productivité. Les résultats du chapitre 3 illustrent que la volatilité du TCER a un impact négatif élevé sur l'investissement. Ces résultats sont robustes dans les pays à faible revenu et les pays à revenu moyens, et en employant une mesure alternative de volatilité du TCER. Le chapitre 4 montre que le désalignement du taux de change réel et la volatilité du taux de change réel affectent négativement les exportations. Il démontre également que la volatilité du taux de change réel est plus nocive aux exportations que le désalignement. Ces résultats sont corroborés par des résultats sur des sous-Échantillons de pays à bas revenu et à revenu moyen. / This dissertation investigates how the real effective exchange rate (REER) and its associated asurements (REER volatility and REER misalignment) affect total factor productivity growth (TFPG). It also analyzes the channels through which the REER and its associated measurements act on total factor productivity (TFP). The first part studies how the REER itself, on the one hand, and the REER volatility, on the other hand, influence productivity. An analysis of the link between the level of REER and TFP in chapter 1 reveals that an exchange rate appreciation causes an increase of TFP. But this impact is also nonlinear: below the threshold, real exchange rate influences negatively productivity while above the threshold it acts positively. The results of chapter 2 illustrate that REER volatility affects negatively TFPG. We also found that REER volatility acts on TFP according to the level of financial development. For moderately financially developed countries, REER volatility reacts negatively on productivity and has no effect on productivity for very low and very high levels of financial development. The second part examines the channels through which the REER and its associated measurements influence productivity. The results of chapter 3 illustrate that the exchange rate volatility has a strong negative impact on investment. This outcome is robust in low income and middle income countries, and by using an alternative measurement of exchange rate volatility. Chapter 4 show that both real exchange rate misalignment and real exchange rate volatility affect negatively exports. It also demonstrates that real exchange rate volatility is more harmful to exports than misalignment. These outcomes are corroborated by estimations on subsamples of Low- ncome and Middle-Income countries