O presente trabalho procura avaliar a migração sob três prismas distintos. O primeiro ensaio faz uma breve revisão da literatura empírica sobre migração no Brasil, seguida de uma análise descritiva das características e condições econômicas dos migrantes no Brasil, evidenciando que as hipóteses do acúmulo de capital humano e o desenvolvimento de habilidades, para o aumento do rendimento esperado, e preferência por melhores conjuntos de amenidades explicam os fluxos migratórios interestaduais brasileiros. Avalia-se em seguida as séries das principais variáveis de desempenho econômico para os migrantes, como desemprego, renda, escolaridade e do índice de Gini de renda e escolaridade, de forma a caracterizar as tendências migratórias e como estas tendências podem ser descritas e analisadas. O segundo ensaio apresenta uma avaliação empírica dos determinantes dos fluxos migratórios brasileiros pelos cortes temporais de 2003, 2006, 2009 e 2012, com base nos dados da PNAD/IBGE, avaliando-os por quatro modelos distintos. O primeiro deles é um modelo gravitacional simples, que não contabiliza os efeitos dos diferenciais de renda; o segundo, um modelo gravitacional expandido, que contabiliza os diferenciais de renda, mas não para a diversidade do trabalho; o terceiro é o modelo centro-periferia, que contabiliza ambos; o último é um modelo que não contabiliza diferenciais de renda, mas contabiliza variáveis institucionais e climáticas. Encontra-se que o principal determinante dos fluxos ainda são os diferenciais de renda, assim como a estrutura das aglomerações regionais. O terceiro ensaio se dedica a avaliação do impacto dos migrantes na determinação da renda regional, em virtude de sua qualicação e da diversidade dos locais de origem desta população. Após uma breve revisão teórica, são apresentados os modelos caracteristicamente utilizados na análise de impacto econômico dos migrantes, e procedida da avaliação empírica destes modelos. Posteriormente, são discutidos os resultados das regressões, que sugerem que os migrantes possuem impactos positivos mais significativos como característica populacional do que variáveis importantes, como a fracionalização étnica e de gênero, na determinação da renda e do crescimento regional. / This study evaluates the migration under three different prisms. The first essay is a brief review of the empirical literature on migration in Brazil, followed by a descriptive analysis of the characteristics and economic conditions of migrants in Brazil, showing that the chances of accumulation of human capital and skills development, to increase the yield expected, and preference for best sets of amenities explain the Brazilian interstate migration ows. It is estimated then the series of the main variables of economic performance for migrants, such as unemployment, income, education and the Gini index of income and education, in order to characterize migration and how these trends can be described and analyzed trends. The second paper presents an empirical evaluation of the determinants of Brazilian migration by temporal cuts of 2003, 2006, 2009 and 2012, based on PNAD / IBGE, evaluating them for four distinct models. The first is a simple gravity model, it does not account for the effects of income differentials; the second, an expanded gravity model that accounts for income differentials, but not for the diversity of work; the third is the center-periphery model, which accounts for both; the latter is a model that does not account for income differentials, but accounts for institutional and climatic variables. It is found that the main determinant of the ows are still income differentials, as well as the structure of regional aglomerções. The third essay is dedicated to assessing the impact of migrants on regional income determination, by virtue of their qualifications and diversity of places of origin of this population. After a brief literature review, models characteristically used in the analysis of economic impact of migrants are presented, and proceed as empirical evaluation of these models. Subsequently, we discuss the results of the regressions, suggesting that migrants have the most significant positive impacts such as population characteristic that important variables such as ethnic fractionalization and gender in determining income and regional growth.

O objetivo deste trabalho é contribuir para uma melhor compreensão dos aspectos econômicos da discriminação racial no Brasil. Com esse intuito, é realizada, primeiramente, uma breve revisão do debate existente na literatura teórica e empírica sobre o tema, possibilitando uma definição mais precisa dos conceitos de raça e discriminação, como uma decorrência de um problema de informação assimétrica no mercado de trabalho, associado a crenças preestabelecidas sobre os grupos. Dentro dessa perspectiva, o erro de mensuração existente na variável indicadora de \"raça\" é investigado, visto que, caso a classificação recebida pelo trabalhador no mercado de trabalho não coincida com sua declaração no censo, é necessária uma correção dos procedimentos de estimação a fim de evitar resultados enviesados. Aplicando o método proposto, verifica-se que o diferencial de salário estimado entre brancos e não brancos parece ser subestimado no Brasil, usando-se dados do Censo Demográfico de 2000. O efeito da média educacional dos grupos no salário esperado é também inferido, não sendo rejeitada, o que sugere a existência do fenômeno da discriminação estatística no Brasil. Em seguida, a evolução dos diferenciais é estudada a partir de dados das Pesquisas Nacionais de Amostra por Domicílio entre 1992 e 2009. Para tal, usa-se a decomposição de Oaxaca-Blinder das médias e quantis, corrigida para o problema de viés de seleção. No caso dos quantis, propõe-se uma correção para o viés de seleção para o método da regressão quantílica não condicionada. Além disso, levando-se em conta as diferenças regionais brasileiras, a hipótese de que pardos e pretos constituam um único grupo racial é também testada, observando-se a existência de diferenças significantes entre pardos e pretos no Nordeste, o que não se verifica na região Sul e no estado de São Paulo. No caso das médias salariais, os resultados apontam para uma queda na diferença, por conta sobretudo da redução das disparidades em termos de capital humano, embora a fração não explicável, atribuível à discriminação, se mantenha constante ao longo do tempo. No entanto, ao se analisar indivíduos ocupando posições análogas na escala salarial de cada grupo, observa-se que a discriminação racial parece ser relevante apenas entre os mais pobres, sendo a maior parte do diferencial dos salários explicada pela brutal diferença na escolaridade de brancos e não brancos, que é positivamente correlacionada com a renda. Por fim, a partir de dados das escolas do Ensino Fundamental da cidade de São Paulo, o efeito da segregação espacial na determinação dos rendimentos dos trabalhadores é investigado. A hipótese não é rejeitada, observando-se um efeito positivo da segregação para brancos e amarelos e, negativo para negros, fato que se relaciona com a quase inexistência de pretos e pardos em escolas particulares. No ensino público, porém, há pouca separação, o que permite concluir que a falta de acesso a certas redes de relacionamento e a um ensino de melhor qualidade são mais importantes do que a variável indicadora de \"raça\" para explicar os diferenciais existentes. / The objective of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of the economics of racial discrimination in Brazil, in view of the already documented economic disparity in the outcomes of white and non-white populations. To that end, a comprehensive review of the existing debate in the literature is carried out, defining also the concepts of race and discrimination as a result of a problem of asymmetric information in the labor market, associated with pre-established beliefs about groups. In addition, using data from the 2000 census, the hypothesis of error in measurement in the indicator variable \"race\" is investigated, since, if the classification received by the worker in the labor market does not coincide with their statement in the census, it is necessary to correct estimation procedures in order to avoid biased results, which turns out to substantially raise the estimated wage differential between whites and non-whites. Then, using data from national household surveys between 1992 and 2009, the evolution of differences is also studied, applying the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition of the mean and the quantiles, adjusted to the problem of selection bias. In the case of quantiles, unconditional quantile regression is used. Moreover, the hypothesis that browns and blacks constitute a single racial group is also tested, taking into account regional differences in Brazil. In the case of average wages, the results point to a narrowing in the wage gap, due to the reduction of disparities in human capital, although the unexplained fraction attributable to discrimination remains constant over the period. Besides that, it is shown that there are significant differences between browns and blacks in the Northeast, which are not seen in the South and the state of São Paulo. Analyzing, however, individuals occupying similar positions in the salary scale, it is seen that racial discrimination seems to be relevant only amongst the poorest, and most of the wage differential is explained by the wide difference in the education of whites and nonwhites, which seems to positively correlate with income. Finally, the effect of spatial segregation in the income of workers is estimated using data of elementary schools in São Paulo. It is shown that there is a positive effect on white and Asian people, while segregation seems to decrease wages of browns and blacks. This different effect may be attributed to the virtual absence of blacks and browns in private schools. In public education, however, there is little separation, which indicates that lack of access to social networks and better quality schools are more important than the variable \"race\" to explain wage differences.

Understanding characteristics of unemployment can contribute to labour market policies. Therefore this thesis investigates gender and ethnic unemployment during the recent 2008-2010 recession and spatial autocorrelation of unemployment using multivariate analysis, decomposition techniques, and panel SAR model which is innovatively adopted to examine the mechanism of causing spatial autocorrelation.

It has been common practice in the economics literature to utilize data on observed outcomes and negate what individuals believe or expect will happen in the future. Using responses to a unique set of questions in the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97) I show that the literature could benefit in several ways by incorporating such data. The leading essay documents a positive association between a student's subjective probabilistic belief that they will complete a four-year college degree and whether or not they attend and complete college. The results indicate the following. First, although overconfident, individuals as young as fifteen are willing and able to answer subjective probabilistic questions concerning education in a cohesive fashion. Second, these expectations are heterogeneous across race, gender, previous academic success, and parent education, and are influential in predicting whether or not they attend and ultimately complete a degree once these characteristics are controlled for. While the magnitude of the effect diminishes when including the standard economic controls, expectations remain significant and play a larger role as the student ages. Parent expectations are also positive and statistically associated with their child's future college success when the student is young but the significance diminishes as the student ages and gathers information related to the costs and benefits of a college degree. These findings indicate that students possess some form of private information that is not being completely captured by the standard variables used by econometricians to predict college attendance and completion. The second essay uses the NLSY97 to examine how students form and update their college completion expectations as they age out high school. I begin by estimating which factors are utilized by students when forming their expectations while in high school. I find that while these students are taking into account several of the relevant factors associated with college success, they also appear to be neglecting the impact that income and ability have on their likelihood of completing college or are over-relying on poor signals. I then test whether or not students update their expectations in a Bayesian fashion. A Bayesian model is developed. The three ways in which Bayesian students should respond to the acquisition of new information are discussed. Four sources of new information are identified and used in the testing. The testing reveals that students who report either a 0% or 100% chance of completing college do not appear to be Bayesian, but those who report within the 0% and 100% bounds do update in a Bayesian fashion. The third essay studies the accuracy and alignment of the individual's expectation that they will complete college. I utilize several unique aspects of the NLSY97 to create a measure of alignment based on the predicted probability that the respondent will eventually complete college and their expectation of doing so while either in high school or of college age. I use this measure to answer the following questions. First, are there any observable differences between those who are aligned and misaligned? Next, do respondents become more aligned as they age and progress out of high school? Last, are those who are more aligned at an early age more likely to reach their outcomes? I find that although the majority of students are overconfident in their belief there are considerable differences in alignment based on several observable characteristics and the availability of information. The alignment of student expectations differ based on parent education, ASVAB percentile, school enrollment, and race. Using two sub-samples of different aged respondents I show that as students age and acquire more information their expectation of completing college becomes more aligned with their estimated probability of completion. I confirm this by examining 700 students who are asked their expectations first in 1997 while in high school then again five years later when they either are in college or the workforce. I conclude by showing that those who are more aligned in either direction with what a model of college completion predicts the more likely they are to eventually reach that outcome. The final essay examines if the private information contained in the student's expectation that they will complete college is associated with future early career earnings. First I note that there are considerable differences in the frequency of reporting, yearly income, hours worked, and hourly wage for those who predict college success and are successful versus those who do not, as well as those who accurately predict that they will not complete college. I then include these expectations in a wage regression and the estimates suggest that when individuals report their college completion expectations between the ages of 15 and 17 they are not associated with future earnings. However, when asked between the ages of 17 and 22 the reported expectations are positively associated with future wages. There is considerable heterogeneity based on gender, whether they reported at one of the three primary heaping points, and the quantile of the wage distribution in which they were located.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Economics / Dong Li / The dissertation examines empirical issues related to health and labor economics. It has long been debated whether breastfeeding leads to a higher intelligence quotient (IQ) and greater scholastic achievement. The first study empirically examines the issue. Many past studies fail to take into account the possible endogeneity of the breastfeeding decision and thus falsely identify the correlation between breastfeeding and IQ as a causal relationship. We attempt to distinguish the causation and correlation between the two variables. Our results show that, after controlling for possible endogeneity, breastfeeding has no significant impact on IQ or scholastic achievement. The second essay examines the link between breastfeeding and childhood obesity. Heath economics researchers view breastfeeding as a determining factor as to whether a child becomes obese. There are many theories, involving both biological and psychological factors, as to why breastfeeding is negatively linked to childhood obesity. This essay argues that the breastfeeding decision is not an exogenous one, so estimation technique such as ordinary least squares is not the correct way to estimate the relationship between breastfeeding and childhood obesity. Instruments are used to generate exogenous variations in the breastfeeding variable. After correcting for any estimation bias due to the breastfeeding variable being endogenous, this study documents the benefits of breastfeeding. The third essay analyzes 19 semesters of student evaluations at Kansas State University. Faculty fixed effects are sizable and indicate that, as assessed by students, the best principles teachers also tend to be the best non-principles teachers. OLS estimates are biased because principles teachers are drawn from the top of the distribution and because unmeasured faculty characteristics are correlated with such variables as the response rate and student effort. Student ratings are lowest for new faculty but stabilize quickly. Expected GPA of the class is not an important determinant of student ratings, but equitable grading is; and the rewards for equitable grading appear larger for principles classes. The lower ratings in principles classes are fully accounted for by greater class size.

The central concern of this study is to analyse how the pattern of development in South Africa has influenced the long term growth of productive employment in the economy. The approach adopted is to appply a model of economic dualism to the South African case. Chapter 1, p. 1.

Using data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, this paper examines differences in entrepreneurial perceptions (fear of failure, opportunity perception, self-efficacy, public opinion) between CEE and non-CEE countries, before and after the 2008 recession, as well as the effects of these perceptions on entrepreneurial motivation and overall levels of activity. The results suggest that CEE countries have systematically more pessimistic outlooks in terms of fear of failure and opportunity perception, but no difference from non-CEE countries in self-efficacy and public opinion. Additionally, most of the difference in fear of failure and opportunity perception, along with an increase in necessity-motivated entrepreneurship, comes after the recession, suggesting less durability and resilience of optimistic entrepreneurial perceptions in CEE countries. Finally, there is evidence of a higher threshold for a perceived opportunity to become a business reality in these post-socialist CEE countries.

This dissertation examines a number of issues regarding employer-provided work-family programs. Chapter 1 provides a brief overview of the rise of employer-provided work-family programs and research in this field. Chapter 2 is a case study of the implementation of a model work-family program in a major U.S. corporation. It examines the degree to which this corporation succeeded in providing adequate information and equitable access to the various benefits and policies that comprised its work-family program. In analyzing the successes and failures of this organization, by extension I call into question the success of other large corporations in providing programs that are equitable in terms of employee wage level, race/ethnicity, and location within the organization. Chapter 3 models the decisions by dual-earner couples regarding the allocation of their own time toward childcare activities versus the time they purchase paid childcare services, using individual and joint parental time budgets as choice variables. First, I demonstrate a relationship between working non-traditional full-time day schedules that approximate those available through flextime programs and the staggering of time at home by working couples. Then, regression analysis establishes a relationship between the time budgets thus established and the allocation of childcare time among mother, father, and paid service providers. Data from the 1992 National Study of the Changing Workforce (NSCW) is used for this research. Chapter 4 examines the preferences of women who are members of labor unions for various work-family benefits and policies. Drawing again on the 1992 NSCW data, I explore possible explanations for similarities and differences between the preferences held by union women and men and union vs. non-union working women.

This dissertation contains three essays on Urban Economics. The first two chapters study the impact of land-use regulation on economic development. Many countries have land-use regulations to preserve farmland from urban land expansion. In Chapter 1 and 2, I show that such regulations can distort economic activity across sectors and locations at a substantial cost to aggregate welfare in developing countries during urbanization. Specifically, I study a major policy restricting farm-to-urban land conversion in China - the Farmland Red Line Policy - to provide causal evidence on the impact of land-use regulation on local development measured by GDP and population growth. The policy imposes a barrier to urban land development, the strength of which depends on exogenous local geographical features. In Chapter 1, I show that a greater barrier significantly reduces urban land supply, lowers GDP, and decreases population. Findings in Chapter 1 raises the question about the aggregate impact of the Farmland Red Line Policy. Therefore, in the second chapter, I develop a quantitative spatial equilibrium model that features endogenous land-use decisions in order to understand the aggregate impact of the policy. According to the model, the policy causes an excess supply of farmland and an under-supply of urban land, and the extent of such land misallocation varies across locations due to their local geographical features. In the constrained equilibrium, the spatial and sectoral mobility of workers implies that land misallocation leads to labor misallocation. The calibrated model reveals that the welfare of workers would have been 6% higher in 2010 if the policy had not been implemented. Moreover, a cap-and-trade system that achieved the same aggregate level of farmland would have been far less costly in terms of welfare. The results suggest that fast-growing economies in developing countries need to design land-use policies carefully, as the welfare costs of poorly designed policies can be substantial. In Chapter 3, I test the impact of team size on one's publication output among US university economists from 1996 to 2011. I construct a database of affiliation and publication history for all US university economists using the publication information from the Scopus Database. University funding revenue from government appropriation and private gifts is used as an instrument for the total number of economists at a university. I find that a 10% increase in team size raises one's publication on top 5 economic journals by 30%. Moreover, the team size effect disappears once crossing the affiliation border: having more economists in a nearby affiliation does not affect one's output. Finally, increasing chances to coauthor with colleagues when being part of a larger team helps explain the team size effect.

Wealth has been found to be associated with financial wellbeing in ways not captured by income as well as increased social connections, improved physical and mental health, and increased emotional, cognitive, and behavioral development among children. Preliminary research indicates that a gender disparity in net worth exists in the U.S. However, research in the U.S. thus far has been limited to unmarried households. Research conducted in Germany finds that the gender wealth gap is substantially larger among married households as compared to unmarried households. Using the 2008 panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation, this dissertation is the first to examine whether the same is true in the U.S. This dissertation is comprised of three papers: Paper 1 descriptively examines the individual wealth holdings of men and women among married, widowed, divorced, and never married individuals. Results further consider the intersectionality of gender and race in relation to asset ownership and liabilities. Paper 2 provides the first examination of the determinants of the gender wealth gap in the U.S. among the married as well as the unmarried. Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions are conducted in order to examine how much of the gender wealth gap can be explained by labor market characteristics, education, demographic characteristics, and receipt of benefits. DiNardo, Fortin, and Lemieux decompositions are additionally conducted to determine if determinates differ across the wealth distribution. Paper 3 is the first attempt to merge the gender earnings and net worth disparities literature. Weisbrod & Hansen (1968)’s augmented earnings measure is utilized to combine net worth and earnings into one annual measure. Annual earnings, net worth, and augmented earnings are descriptively compared. Paper 1 multivariate results indicate that divorced and never married women own less than $0.30 of wealth for each dollar owned by comparable men while married women own $0.92 for each dollar owned by married men. Black women experience a substantially larger gender wealth gap. Paper 2 finds that the gender wealth gap among divorced and unmarried individuals is not explained by the characteristics listed above and is instead primarily attributable to differences in the rewards or penalties men and women receive for characteristics. Among married individuals, the gender gap can be explained largely by differences in characteristics, particularly labor market characteristics. Paper 3 finds that the gender gap in augmented earnings very slightly increases the disparity as compared to earnings alone. Results indicate that the gender wealth gap among married individuals in the United States is substantially smaller than among unmarried individuals. Paper 2 indicates that for the most part, married couples share assets and debts. The remaining differences in wealth may then be a direct result of the division of labor as determined by the labor market characteristics. Racial differences in the gender wealth gap are stark and particularly concerning. Lastly, Paper 3 indicates that although the augmented earnings measure increased gender disparities only slightly, it suggests that the gender wealth gap captures additional aspects of disparities not captured by earnings. Future research is needed to determine the impact this disparity has on wellbeing.