Lundberg et al. (2003)主張的婚姻談判理論指出退休家庭消費驟降現象是由於夫妻間的相對談判能力在丈夫退休後出現變化而造成。而且該下跌的幅度取決於二人年齡的差異。本論文考慮到 Aguiar and Hurst (2005)的評論消費應該被視為支出和時間的輸出，嘗試修改 Lundberg et al. (2003)的婚姻談判模型，並從食物攝取量的角度重新探討它在退休消費決策中所扮演的角色。我利用美國全國食品調查的食品消費支出和攝取量數據，結果發現儘管退休已婚夫婦的消費支出有下降跡象，但無論是已婚還是單身家庭均沒有減少消費的數量或降低消費的品質。此外，我發現並無任何證據顯示在已婚家庭組別中，夫婦間年齡差距較大的家庭會傾向於丈夫退休後削減更多消費或支出。這些結果與理論預期不符合。因此，認為婚姻談判理論能充分解釋已婚家庭退休消費行為的推斷還是言之過早。 / The Marital Bargaining Theory proposed by Lundberg et al. (2003) suggests that a discontinuity in consumption expenditure at retirement is attributable to the change in the relative bargaining power of husbands and wives upon the husband's retirement, and that the extent of such a decline depends upon age differences in couples. This thesis responds to Aguiar and Hurst (2005)'s critique that consumption should be regarded as an outcome of market expenses and time. With this taken into consideration, I attempt to rewrite the marital bargaining model and reexamine its role in the retirement-consumption decision empirically from the perspective of food intake. By exploiting data on food expenditures and intake from U.S nationwide food surveys, I show that despite a drop in expenditures for married couples, neither married nor single households experience a decline in consumption associated with retirement in terms of food quantity and quality. Also, I find no evidence that married couples with big age gaps suffer from a larger decline in either expenditures or consumption relative to those who are closer in age. These results are inconsistent with a modified model of marital bargaining. It is thus premature to conclude that the Marital Bargaining Theory plays an important role in explaining the retirement-consumption behavior of married couples. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Wong, Lok Sze. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-83). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Abstract --- p.ii / 摘要 --- p.iii / Acknowledgements --- p.iv / Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 2. --- Literature Review --- p.4 / Chapter 3. --- Data --- p.13 / Chapter 3.1 --- Survey Description --- p.13 / Chapter 3.2 --- Sample Selection --- p.18 / Chapter 3.3 --- Summary Statistics --- p.20 / Chapter 4. --- Change in Expenditure and Time use at Retirement --- p.21 / Chapter 5. --- Modified Model of Marital Bargaining --- p.26 / Chapter 6. --- Methodology for Consumption Analysis --- p.32 / Chapter 7. --- Comparison of the CSFII and NHANES Estimates --- p.37 / Chapter 8. --- Retirement-Consumption Behaviors across Married Couples --- p.40 / Chapter 9. --- Discussion and Implication --- p.47 / Chapter 10. --- Conclusion --- p.50 / Chapter Figure 1: --- Retirement Rates by Age in the CSFII --- p.52 / Chapter Table 1: --- Demographic Statistics of Male Household Heads Aged Between 57 and 71 in the CSFII and NHANES by Marital Status --- p.53 / Chapter Table 2: --- Descriptive Statistics of Self-Reported Health Status and Specific Health Conditions of Male Household Heads Aged Between 57 and 71 in the CSFII and NHANES by Marital Status --- p.54 / Chapter Table 3: --- Instrumental Variable Regression of Changes in Log Food Expenditure and Shopping Frequency Upon Retirement by Marital Status --- p.55 / Chapter Table 4: --- Instrumental Variable Regression of Changes in Log Food Expenditure and Shopping Frequency Upon Retirement for Married Couples by Difference in Age --- p.56 / Chapter Table 5: --- Instrumental Variable Regression of Changes in Log Food Expenditure and Shopping Frequency Upon Retirement for Married Couples by Difference in Age (Three Groups) --- p.57 / Chapter Table 6: --- Comparison of Predictions Between Standard and Modified Marital Bargaining Models --- p.58 / Chapter Table 7: --- Comparison of Regression Results for Average Population Between the CSFII and NHANES (Nutritional Compositions) --- p.59 / Chapter Table 8: --- Comparison of Regression Results for Average Population Between the CSFII and NHANES (Propensity to Consume Food Categories) --- p.60 / Chapter Table 9: --- Comparison of Regression Results for Average Population Between the CSFII and NHANES (Propensity to Eat Away from Home) --- p.61 / Chapter Table 10: --- Instrumental Variable Regression of Changes in Nutritional Compositions Upon Retirement by Marital Status --- p.62 / Chapter Table 11: --- Instrumental Variable Regression of Changes in Propensity to Consume Food Categories Upon Retirement by Marital Status --- p.63 / Chapter Table 12: --- Instrumental Variable Regression of Changes in Propensity to Eat Away from Home Upon Retirement by Marital Status --- p.64 / Chapter Table 13: --- Instrumental Variable Regression of Changes in Nutritional Compositions Upon Retirement for Married Couples by Difference in Age (Three Groups) --- p.65 / Chapter Table 14: --- Instrumental Variable Regression of Changes in Propensity to Consume Food Categories Upon Retirement for Married Couples by Difference in Age (Three Groups) --- p.66 / Chapter Table 15: --- Instrumental Variable Regression of Changes in Propensity to Eat Away from Home Upon Retirement for Married Couples by Difference in Age (Three Groups) --- p.67 / Chapter Table 16: --- Comparison of Empirical Results and Predictions of Two Models, With and Without Change in Bargaining Power Within Marriage, for Married Couple Households --- p.68 / Chapter Appendix Table 1: --- The Median Annual Household Incomes in the 1999-2008 CPS March Supplement and the Corresponding Income Ranges in the NHANES --- p.69 / Chapter Appendix Table 2: --- Instrumental Variable Regression of Changes in Nutritional Compositions Upon Retirement for Married Couples by Difference in Age (Non-Household Head) --- p.70 / Chapter Appendix Table 3: --- Instrumental Variable Regression of Changes in Propensity to Consume Food Categories Upon Retirement for Married Couples by Difference in Age (Non-Household Head) --- p.71 / Chapter Appendix Table 4: --- Instrumental Variable Regression of Changes in Propensity to Eat Away from Home Upon Retirement for Married Couples by Difference in Age (Non-Household Head) --- p.72 / Chapter Appendix: --- Proof 1 --- p.73 / Chapter Appendix: --- Proof 2 --- p.76 / References --- p.81

Kong, Kwok Ho. / "August 2011." / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-68). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.ii / 摘要 --- p.iii / Acknowledgements --- p.iv / Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 2. --- Literature Review --- p.4 / Chapter 2.1 --- The Retirement-Consumption Puzzle --- p.4 / Chapter 2.2 --- Food Expenditure and Food Consumption --- p.7 / Chapter 2.3 --- Heterogeneous Impact of Retirement on Consumption Expenditure --- p.7 / Chapter 3. --- Data Sources and Description --- p.10 / Chapter 3.1 --- Surveys --- p.10 / Chapter 3.2 --- Sample --- p.12 / Chapter 4. --- Methodology --- p.16 / Chapter 5. --- "Comparison of the NHAPS, ATUS, and ASEC Estimates" --- p.18 / Chapter 6. --- Empirical Results-Demographic Characteristics --- p.21 / Chapter 6.1 --- Male and Female Householders --- p.23 / Chapter 6.2 --- Marital Status --- p.25 / Chapter 6.3 --- Education --- p.27 / Chapter 7. --- Empirical Results-Financial Characteristics --- p.29 / Chapter 7.1 --- Housing Ownership --- p.30 / Chapter 7.2 --- Interest and Dividend Income --- p.32 / Chapter 8. --- Empirical Results-Dependency Status --- p.35 / Chapter 9. --- Potential Bias of Using Age as an Insturment for Retirement --- p.38 / Chapter 10. --- Robustness Checking --- p.40 / Chapter 10.1 --- Estimation with Restricted Samples --- p.40 / Chapter 10.2 --- Ordinary Least Square (OLS) Estimation --- p.41 / Chapter 11. --- Conclusions --- p.43 / Chapter Figure 1 --- Level Changes of Time Spent on Food Production for Household Members by Three-year Ranges --- p.46 / Chapter Figure 2 --- Percentage Change of Time Spent on Food Production for Household Members by Three-year Ranges --- p.47 / Chapter Table 1 --- "Descriptive Statistics of Non-retired and Retired Individuals in NHAPS, ATUS, and ATUS-ASEC" --- p.48 / Chapter Table 2 --- Descriptive Statistics of Time Spent on Home Food Production (in minutes per day) of Non-retired and Retired Households --- p.49 / Chapter Table 3 --- Comparison of Regression Result between the Estimation of Aguiar and Hurst (2005) and the Author's Estimation --- p.50 / Chapter Table 4 --- Descriptive Statistics of ATUS Non-retired and Retired Individuals by Gender --- p.51 / Chapter Table 5 --- 2SLS Estimates of ATUS-ASEC Householders by Gender --- p.52 / Chapter Table 6 --- 2SLS Estimates of ATUS-ASEC Female Householders by Marital Status --- p.53 / Chapter Table 7 --- 2SLS Estimates of ATUS-ASEC Male Householders by Marital Status --- p.54 / Chapter Table 8 --- 2SLS Estimates of ATUS-ASEC Householders by Education Attainment --- p.55 / Chapter Table 9 --- 2SLS Estimates of ATUS-ASEC Householders by Housing Ownership --- p.56 / Chapter Table 10 --- 2SLS Estimates of ATUS-ASEC Householders by Interest Income and Dividend Income during the Survey Year --- p.57 / Chapter Table 11 --- 2SLS Estimates of ATUS-ASEC Householders by Dependency Status during the Survey Year --- p.58 / Chapter Table 12 --- Comparison of Regression Results under Full Samples and Restricted Samples --- p.59 / Chapter Table 13 --- Comparison of Regression Results between the Use of 2SLS and OLS Methods --- p.60 / Chapter Appendix: --- Data --- p.61 / Chapter Appendix Table 1 --- Time Spent on Home Food Production (in Minutes per Day) of Householders by Marital Status --- p.62 / Chapter Appendix Table 2 --- Time Spent on Home Food Production (in Minutes per Day) of Householders by Education Attainment --- p.63 / Chapter Appendix Table 3 --- Time Spent on Home Food Production (in Minutes per Day) of Householders by Housing Ownership and the Sum of Interest Income and Dividend Income --- p.64 / Chapter Appendix Table 4 --- Housing Ownership and Education Attainment of Individuals in 2003-2009 ATUS-ASEC --- p.65 / Chapter Appendix Table 5 --- Time Spent on Home Food Production (in Minutes per Day) of Householders by Dependency Status --- p.66 / References --- p.67

This dissertation consists of three empirical research studies that broadly pertain to the economics of collective bargaining, or the process by which employees act through labor unions to negotiate with employers over compensation, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment; and of labor market power, which refers to the ability of economic actors to set wages and employment at levels different from those that would obtain under a theoretical ideal of perfect competition, wherein both workers and firms are atomized agents with no unilateral ability to influence a market equilibrium. The first chapter, entitled "The Effects of Union Membership on Inequality and Well-Being in Retirement," uses data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and an empirical design based on comparisons of older workers who switch into or out of union employment in the years before retirement with otherwise similar peers to study the effect of union membership on various outcomes in old age, including pension income and income from other sources, wealth, consumption, time use, mortality, morbidity, and inequality. Our notable findings include a pension income premium for workers who retire as union members of approximately 10-20%, similar to estimates of the union wage premium; evidence of larger premia for retirees at lower quantiles of the pension income distribution, which mirrors existing research on how unions exert a compressive effect on the distribution of wages for current workers; and a reduction in the annual mortality rate for union retirees of around 1.25%, comparable to estimates of the mortality differential between the lowest- and highest-income individuals in the same age category. We further attempt to distill the multidimensional effects of union membership in retirement into a single measure of impact on well-being using the concept of "consumption-equivalent welfare," and estimate that the subsequent lifetime welfare of those who retire from nonunion jobs is on the order of 50-60% that of those who retire from union jobs, depending on the precise assumptions and methodology employed. The second chapter, coauthored with Leonard Goff, is entitled "Monopsony in Minnesota: Rent-Sharing and Labor Supply Consequences of a Nursing Home Reimbursement Reform." Models of static labor market monopsony predict that rent-sharing, or pass-through from firm productivity or marginal revenue shocks into workers' wages, is one consequence of labor markets being less than perfectly competitive. In this study we consider a 2016 reform to the state of Minnesota's Medicaid reimbursement scheme for residents of nursing homes that introduced so-called value-based reimbursement, and make use of data on facilities' wages, employee separations, and revenue from various sources to simultaneously estimate both rent-sharing and firm-level labor supply elasticities. In our most-preferred two-stage least squares specifications we find rent-sharing elasticities on the order of 0.10-0.25, suggesting that pass-through is substantially greater than indicated by naive OLS estimates of the same, and we confirm these results through an alternative methodology based on "seemingly unrelated regressions." With the same approach we also obtain an estimate of the average labor supply elasticity facing nursing homes of around 5, corresponding to an optimal wage markdown below marginal revenue product of roughly 15%. Furthermore, subgroup analyses by occupation, union status, and local labor market concentration show little evidence of an effect of collective bargaining on rent-sharing but more convincing indications that rent-sharing is greater in occupations or commuting zones that are characterized by lower labor supply elasticity - a fact that we show can be rationalized with a model of monopsony in which firms have isoelastic production functions. The third and final chapter, coauthored with Brendan Moore and Suresh Naidu, is entitled "Right-to-Work and Union Decline in the United States: Evidence from a Novel Dataset on County-Level Union Membership." Labor union membership and union density in the United States have fallen substantially in recent decades, in particular in the private sector. The causal contribution of state-level "right-to-work" (RTW) laws, which prohibit collective bargaining agreements from requiring union membership as a condition of employment, has been heavily debated. However, research on the role of RTW in accounting for these trends has been stymied by a paucity of data on union membership at a fine geographic level. Using a LASSO selection model and data from several different administrative and survey-based sources, we construct a novel dataset on county-level membership and density and use it to reexamine the consequences of RTW. We show that RTW has a highly significant negative effect in this regard, and we establish that the impact of these laws is felt most strongly in those counties that are the most highly-unionized at the start of our sample period. On average we find that density is reduced by about an additional 0.4 percentage points for every one percentage point increase in its initial value in 1991. However, counties at or below the median initial density see little to no change, while density declines by about 7 percentage points following the passage of RTW for those in the uppermost decile. We also present evidence from an event-study analysis which shows that the effect of RTW grows over time, with the full impact only being felt about a decade after enactment. Taken both individually and collectively, these three essays serve to advance an understanding of the determinants and consequences of union membership and monopsony power. In addition to making original contributions to the fields of applied labor economics and labor studies, it is our hope that they also offer frameworks upon which future research in these areas can build.

Emerging river policy has launched small dam removal as a viable option to meet the ecological and social demands for river restoration. As small dam removals gain precedence as a policy tool in river restoration projects there exists a glaring gap in the social considerations, in particular how small dam removals may affect existing community conditions. In order to determine the community impacts that may result, a case study of the Brownsville Dam Removal, in Brownsville Oregon was investigated to address two questions: 1) how has the Brownsville Dam removal affected the social and economic conditions of the community and 2) what indicators can be used to characterize and monitor the impacts. Twenty-nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with four community affiliations: 1) Canal Company members; 2) Calapooia Watershed Council members; 3) City Officials; and 4) community residents. A participatory social impact assessment (SIA) approach was used to validate existing and/or emergent impacts and indicators. The semi-structured interviews assisted in the development of a matrix of impacts and indicators specific to small dam removal. The local impacts and indicators were operationalized and measured. Findings suggest that the social and economic impacts when distributed across the community are minimal in this case of small dam removal. Because local data availability is limited, it was determined that the traditional social impact assessment framework can be vastly improved through the engagement of the community. This research further suggests that when collaboration is extended beyond a unidirectional flow of information (which is often the case in a traditional SIA), issues and concerns are open to deliberation in a non-threatening arena. The Calapooia Watershed Council served as the forum through which the residents of Brownsville were able to enhance their participation in decision making. This also contributed to a learning process that in the end furthered the community's understanding of the dynamic physical changes to the Calapooia River as well as their capacity to solve complex decisions. The case also demonstrated that collective learning is a reflective process of adjustment to the changing circumstances in which the community came to perceive, interpret, and act upon their interest. With a growing number of collaborative partnerships of watershed based management, distinguishable by their decentralized, participatory engagement of stakeholders, it may be likely that these place-based mechanisms will become the nexus to the successful coordination of small dam removal deliberation in the future. / Graduation date: 2010

The main objective of this thesis is to analyze the problem of population ageing in terms of the cessation of professional activity (and especially premature labour market withdrawals) and non-medical care needs of persons who are dependent or have lost their autonomy, in order to provide the various public and private administrations active in these fields with some food for thought. / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished