The objective of this thesis is to improve the understanding of how several individual characteristics, namely education (years of schooling), health indicators (height, weight, smoking, alcohol consumption, and exercise), criminal behavior, and crime victimization, influence labor market outcomes in the short and long run. The first part of the thesis consists of three studies in which I adopt a within-twin-pair difference approach to analyze how education, health indicators, and earnings are associated with each other over the life cycle. The second part of the thesis includes two studies in which I use field experiments in order to test the employability of exoffenders and crime victims. The first essay, Learning for life?, describes an analysis of the education premium in earnings and health-related behaviors throughout adulthood among twins. The results show that the education premium in earnings, net of genetic inheritance, is rather small over the life cycle but increases with the level of education. The results also show that the education premium in health-related behaviors is mainly concentrated on smoking habits. The influences of education on earnings and health-related behaviors seem to work independently of each other, and there are no signs that health-related behaviors influence the education premium in earnings or vice versa. The second essay, Blowing up money?, details an analysis of the association between smoking and earnings in two different historical social contexts in Sweden: the 1970s and the 2000s. I also consider possible differences in this association in the short and long run as well as between the sexes. The results show that the earnings penalty for smoking is much stronger in the 2000s as compared to the 1970s (for both sexes) and that it is larger in the long run as compared to the short run (for men). The third essay, Two by two, inch by inch, describes an analysis of the height premium among Swedish twins. The results show that the height premium is relatively constant over the life cycle and that it is larger below median height for men and above median height for young women. The estimates are similar for monozygotic and dizygotic twins, indicating that environmentally and genetically induced height differences are similarly associated with earnings over the life cycle. The fourth essay, The employability of ex-offenders, published in IZA Journal of Labor Policy (2017), 6:6, details an analysis of whether male and female exoffenders are discriminated against when applying for jobs in the Swedish labor market. The results show that employers do discriminate against exoffenders but that the degree of discrimination varies across occupations. Discrimination against ex-offenders is pronounced in female-dominated and high-skilled occupations. The magnitude of discrimination against exoffenders does not vary by applicants’ sex. The fifth essay, Victimized twice?, describes an analysis of whether male and female crime victims are discriminated against when applying for jobs in the Swedish labor market. This study is the first to consider potential hiring discrimination against crime victims. The results show that employers do discriminate against crime victims. The discrimination varies with the sex of the crime victim and occupational characteristics and is concentrated among high-skilled jobs for female crime victims and among femaledominated jobs for male crime victims.

Essay 1: This paper studies tipping behaviour in the residential mobility of the native population inSweden between 1990 and 2007. Using regression discontinuity methods, we find that thegrowth in native population in a neighbourhood discontinuously drops once aneighbourhood’s immigrant share exceeds the identified tipping point. In the 1990s the dropcan be attributed both to increased out-migration of natives (native flight) and to thedecreased in-migration of natives (native avoidance) while native flight appears to be drivingthe segregation pattern between the years 2000 and 2007. Further, we find native migrationfrom neighbourhoods that have tipped is selective, in the sense that natives with a high levelof educational attainment are the most likely to move from such neighbourhood. We concludethat the native residential mobility has contributed to increased ethnic segregation but it alsoappears to have increased socio-economic segregation in Sweden between 1990 and 2007. Essay 2: This paper focuses on second-generation immigrants and analyses the short- and long-termeffects of immigrant and ethnic group concentration in childhood neighbourhood on earnings,unemployment, reliance on income support and educational attainment. The results show thata high immigrant concentration in a childhood neighbourhood is negatively associated witheconomic outcomes of both second-generation immigrants and natives. Ethnic groupconcentration seems to work in the opposite direction, improving economic outcomes forsecond-generation immigrants. Furthermore, the results highlight the importance of includingtime dynamics in any analysis of the effect of childhood neighbourhood ethnic compositionon economic outcomes.

This thesis studies the impacts of school entry policy and information revelation on student outcomes using a sample of students from the province of British Columbia (BC), Canada. The questions examined by the first two essays arise from a policy used by many industrialized countries, whereby students born within a 1-year time span all begin school at the same time. This policy creates large differences in age among students in the same class, which are thought to affect their academic performance along a number of dimensions. In the first essay, I contribute to the literature by establishing the persistence in test score differentials among students in the same class who differ in age. I show that in grade 4 older students outperform younger students by a large margin in numeracy, reading and writing, an effect that persists to a lesser magnitude until grade 10. The persistence is strongest for the writing skill, and it is also much stronger for girls than for boys. The strength of the test score differential in grade 10 suggests that the effects of age could have more lasting effects on cognitive and labour market outcomes. In the second essay, I take a closer look at how age affects outcomes, by disentangling the entry age effect from the test age effect. Nearly all studies in this literature interpret age-related differences in student outcomes as the result of entry age, but because students who enter later are also older at every stage in compulsory schooling, the entry age effect has not been separated from the test age effect. Using a set of students entering school at the time of BC's dual entry experiment, I show that test age is largely responsible for age-related differences in the probability of repeating grade 3, and entry age is largely responsible for age-related differences in grade 10 numeracy and reading scores. I show further that having an extra year of schooling reduces the likelihood that a student repeats grade 3, but has a negligible impact on grade 10 test scores. Both the entry age and test age effects are stronger for boys than they are for girls. The final essay examines whether school choices change when parents are exposed to a new source of information on school quality. I model the effect of new information on choices using a simple expected utility framework and show that parents will use the new information to make different choices if they do not perceive it to be too noisy and if they have poor prior information on school quality. Furthermore, they make increasing use of the new information as more observations become available, since it becomes a more accurate predictor of true quality. Using the sudden release of BC's new standardized testing regime, I then study whether there is empirical support for the model. I show that the likelihood of switching out of a school increases when a school performs worse on the test, and that enrollment into kindergarten responds positively to increases in test scores. The response becomes stronger when more test score observations are available. Finally, I show variance in the response among parents living in less-educated neighbourhoods and among those who do not speak English at home, suggesting that prior information does play a role in the information use. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Many children in developing countries forgo education due to the direct or opportunity costs of attending school. To help defray the direct costs of secondary schooling, the Ghanaian government launched its free secondary school initiative in 2017, which sought to make tuition and all educational-related expenses free for every Ghanaian child who passed the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE). The first objective of this study is to examine to what extent the association between household income and school enrollment decreased in strength over time due to Ghana’s 2017 policy reform using the Ghana socio-economic panel survey (GSPS) and difference-in-differences estimation technique. Our results show that household assets (a proxy for income) had a significant and positive association with school enrollment before the policy change; however, household assets have no significant association with enrollment after the policy change, thus suggesting that family resources do not matter for child enrollment after the policy change. Our results also imply that the 2017 policy reform effectively reduced the hurdles facing lower-income families in paying for secondary school education. The second objective of this study is to examine the effects of this government policy on household labor market outcomes in Ghana. Using the Ghana Socio-Economic Panel Survey (GSPS) and the difference-in-differences estimation technique, we found an increase in labor supply and wages for households with SHS kids before the policy change; however, after policy reform, both labor supply and wages of SHS households decreased suggesting that the free SHS policy did eliminates the direct cost of schooling. These results also indicate that the free SHS policy has significant implications for human capital development and household welfare and health since the policy eliminates the direct cost of schooling. The third chapter examines the impact of environmental tax revenues on domestic healthcare expenditures using panel data of 96 developing and developed countries from 2000 to 2018 and the fixed effect estimation technique. We find a positive and statistically significant association between total environmental tax revenue and government health expenditures; however, this finding is primarily driven by low-income countries. In addition, we find a positive effect of all kinds of environmental tax revenues on government health expenditures; however, the largest and strongest effect arises with pollution tax and transport tax respectively. Our empirical results confirm the validity of the double dividend hypothesis, thus suggesting that environmental tax revenues have significant implications for public health expenditures.

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Esta tese analisa 9.041 trajetórias ocupacionais de jovens engenheiros como empregados formais no Brasil entre 2003-2012, a partir da técnica de Optimal Matching Analysis (OMA). Estas trajetórias foram comparadas às de uma geração anterior de jovens engenheiros, tanto em seu período-base (1995-2002) como entre 2003-2012, a fim de identificar efeitos de idade e período. Os principais resultados são: (i) conforme esperado, trajetórias ocupacionais ligadas à gestão (em áreas correlatas à engenharia ou não) são as que oferecem remuneração mais alta em todos os períodos analisados; (ii) nos anos 2000, o terceiro padrão mais atrativo para os jovens daquela geração foi permanecer como engenheiro típico, caminho perseguido por praticamente metade deles, enquanto tal atratividade não foi verificada nos anos 1990; (iii) o salário de entrada dos jovens engenheiros subiu 24% em termos reais entre 1995 e 2003; (iv) há pouca mobilidade de trajetória ocupacional por parte da geração dos engenheiros de 1995 após 2003; (v) os jovens engenheiros de 1995 que permaneceram como engenheiros típicos durante os anos 2000 chegaram a 2012 ganhando apenas 14% a mais do que os jovens engenheiros de 2003 (com 8 anos a menos de experiência); para comparação, os gestores da geração 90 ganhavam em torno de 50% a mais do que os da geração 2000; (vi) há dois momentos de definição de trajetória ocupacional: um primeiro ocorre até 3 anos após o primeiro emprego, mas promoções a cargos de gestão podem ocorrer entre 8 e 10 anos. Estes resultados indicam que, se por um lado houve uma revalorização dos profissionais de engenharia na última década, por outro lado esta revalorização não trouxe engenheiros anteriormente formados a carreiras típicas em engenharia. Isto, aliado à baixa demanda pelos cursos de engenharia durante os anos 80 e 90, corrobora a hipótese de um hiato geracional entre os engenheiros, documentado em artigos anteriores. / This PhD dissertation analyzes 9,041 occupational trajectories of young engineers as formal employees in Brazil in 2003-2012, using Optimal Matching Analysis (OMA). These trajectories were compared to those of a previous generation of young engineers, both in its base period (1995-2002) and in 2003-2012, to identify age and period effects. The main results are: (i) as expected, management occupational trajectories (in areas related to engineering or not) pay higher wages, in all periods; (ii) in the 2000s, the third most attractive trajectory was to remain as typical engineer, path pursued by nearly half of young engineers, however, this was not verified in the 1990s; (iii) entry wages of young engineers rose 24% in real terms between 1995 and 2003; (iv) there is little occupational mobility by the generation of 1995 engineers after 2003; (v) young engineers of 1995 who remained as typical engineers during the 2000s earned only 14% more in 2012 than young engineers of 2003; for comparison, in 2012 managers from the 90s earned about 50% more those from the 2000s; (vi) there are two defining moments of occupational trajectory: a first occurs until three years after the first job, but promotions to management positions can take place between 8 and 10 years. These results indicate that, on the one hand, there was a revaluation of engineers over the past decade; on the other hand, this did not attracted former bachelors back to typical careers in Engineering. This, combined with low demand for engineering courses during the 80s and 90s, supports the hypothesis of a generational gap among engineers, documented in previous articles.

Much of the public policy discourse about immigration in the UK has drawn on the experiences of post-war immigrants from the former British colonies. The volume and composition of immigration flows has changed significantly in recent years with substantial increases in the number of immigrants, particularly from countries without links to the UK, and as a result of the large scale immigration from the EU Accession countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Immigration remains a contested issue with public and political debates focusing on the nature and impact of immigration and its perceived negative effects on employment, public services and social cohesion. In spite of the growing number of studies examining the experiences of new immigrants in local neighbourhoods and labour markets there is a lack of comprehensive evidence about how these experiences differ across immigrant groups and the role of place in shaping the experiences and outcomes of new immigration. This research draws on a variety of data from the census, national surveys, administrative sources and qualitative interviews to explore the settlement patterns, labour market outcomes and neighbourhood experiences of new immigrants. The findings show that new immigrants are more likely to locate in ethnically diverse and socially deprived neighbourhoods upon arrival although there is variation in the factors determining immigrant settlement by world area of origin in line with differences in migration motives and entitlements in the UK. The findings from the qualitative interviews highlight the range of motivations and constraints that shape immigrant settlement patterns and how these change over time with secondary migration and family formation. Analysis of the labour market position of immigrants defined by country of origin and ethnicity shows the persistence of ethnic penalties in the labour market. Immigrants from ethnic minority groups both from established and new immigrant groups are found to be more disadvantaged in the labour market than white immigrants and the White British. The neighbourhood context, specifically neighbourhood deprivation and ethnic diversity, is associated with poorer employment outcomes, with the relationship between area deprivation and employment shown to depend on ethnicity. The qualitative evidence highlights the role of social networks and a range of other factors in facilitating and hindering the socio-economic integration of new immigrants. The findings, particularly in relation to immigrant social networks, access to welfare, settlement intentions and housing aspirations, challenge common perceptions about new immigrants living in deprived areas in the UK. The research evidence contributes to a better understanding of the settlement patterns and experiences of new immigration and has implications for national and local policies.

Esta tese analisa 9.041 trajetórias ocupacionais de jovens engenheiros como empregados formais no Brasil entre 2003-2012, a partir da técnica de Optimal Matching Analysis (OMA). Estas trajetórias foram comparadas às de uma geração anterior de jovens engenheiros, tanto em seu período-base (1995-2002) como entre 2003-2012, a fim de identificar efeitos de idade e período. Os principais resultados são: (i) conforme esperado, trajetórias ocupacionais ligadas à gestão (em áreas correlatas à engenharia ou não) são as que oferecem remuneração mais alta em todos os períodos analisados; (ii) nos anos 2000, o terceiro padrão mais atrativo para os jovens daquela geração foi permanecer como engenheiro típico, caminho perseguido por praticamente metade deles, enquanto tal atratividade não foi verificada nos anos 1990; (iii) o salário de entrada dos jovens engenheiros subiu 24% em termos reais entre 1995 e 2003; (iv) há pouca mobilidade de trajetória ocupacional por parte da geração dos engenheiros de 1995 após 2003; (v) os jovens engenheiros de 1995 que permaneceram como engenheiros típicos durante os anos 2000 chegaram a 2012 ganhando apenas 14% a mais do que os jovens engenheiros de 2003 (com 8 anos a menos de experiência); para comparação, os gestores da geração 90 ganhavam em torno de 50% a mais do que os da geração 2000; (vi) há dois momentos de definição de trajetória ocupacional: um primeiro ocorre até 3 anos após o primeiro emprego, mas promoções a cargos de gestão podem ocorrer entre 8 e 10 anos. Estes resultados indicam que, se por um lado houve uma revalorização dos profissionais de engenharia na última década, por outro lado esta revalorização não trouxe engenheiros anteriormente formados a carreiras típicas em engenharia. Isto, aliado à baixa demanda pelos cursos de engenharia durante os anos 80 e 90, corrobora a hipótese de um hiato geracional entre os engenheiros, documentado em artigos anteriores. / This PhD dissertation analyzes 9,041 occupational trajectories of young engineers as formal employees in Brazil in 2003-2012, using Optimal Matching Analysis (OMA). These trajectories were compared to those of a previous generation of young engineers, both in its base period (1995-2002) and in 2003-2012, to identify age and period effects. The main results are: (i) as expected, management occupational trajectories (in areas related to engineering or not) pay higher wages, in all periods; (ii) in the 2000s, the third most attractive trajectory was to remain as typical engineer, path pursued by nearly half of young engineers, however, this was not verified in the 1990s; (iii) entry wages of young engineers rose 24% in real terms between 1995 and 2003; (iv) there is little occupational mobility by the generation of 1995 engineers after 2003; (v) young engineers of 1995 who remained as typical engineers during the 2000s earned only 14% more in 2012 than young engineers of 2003; for comparison, in 2012 managers from the 90s earned about 50% more those from the 2000s; (vi) there are two defining moments of occupational trajectory: a first occurs until three years after the first job, but promotions to management positions can take place between 8 and 10 years. These results indicate that, on the one hand, there was a revaluation of engineers over the past decade; on the other hand, this did not attracted former bachelors back to typical careers in Engineering. This, combined with low demand for engineering courses during the 80s and 90s, supports the hypothesis of a generational gap among engineers, documented in previous articles.

For a number of years, Canadian immigration selection policy has deliberately emphasized the human capital characteristics of applicants in determining admissibility for permanent residence. Largely due to these measures, Chinese immigrants today are overwhelmingly well-educated and skilled. This thesis examines the role of geography in shaping Chinese newcomers’ post-arrival employment status, with an emphasis on working in the high-tech sector. Given that Ottawa is a leading node of high-tech employment in Canada, this project initially investigates the probability that Chinese newcomers will work in the high-tech sector in Ottawa-Gatineau relative to other cities. The project subsequently examines the degree to which employment in the high-tech sector in Ottawa-Gatineau is related to ethnic, social and demographic characteristics of local spaces where people live and work. All aspects of the study adopt a gender lens with respect to interpreting employment status. The study finds that Chinese immigrants in Ottawa-Gatineau are more likely to work in this sector than their counterparts in Vancouver and Toronto. They are also more likely to work in high-tech relative to individuals in other immigrant groups or the Canadian-born population. With respect to co-ethnic residential and work spatial configurations, as well as social and demographic characteristics of residential neighbourhoods, the study finds that these factors exert quite different influences on the likelihood that Chinese women and men will work in Ottawa-Gatineau’s high-tech sector. The results are quite distinctly different for women and men, and underline the importance of a gendered analysis of relationships between geographic location/place and employment status.

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