This dissertation includes three essays in applied microeconomics. The first two chapters focus on gender and female labor force participation. The third chapter examines the strategic behavior in politics. The first chapter examines the impact of male casualties due to World War II on fertility and female employment in the United States. We rely on the number of casualties at the county-level and use a differences-in-differences strategy. While most counties in the U.S. experienced a Baby Boom following the war, we find that the increase in fertility was lower in high casualty rate counties than in low casualty rate counties. Analyzing the channels through which male casualties could have decreased fertility, we provide evidence that county male casualties are positively related to 1950s female employment and household income. The second chapter examines the impact of gender focused labor legislation on women's labor force participation and economic empowerment. We rely on historical acts passed by state legislatures and exploit whether or not states passed regulatory laws regulating overall and industry specific employment and work conditions for women, night work laws and labor laws requiring provision of seats for working women. We exploit the fact that not all states enacted these laws as well as the variation in the timing of enactment of such laws. Our results show that women in comparison to men in treated states are more likely to be in the labor force after the introduction of seating and night work laws relative to control states. We also document the effect of industry-specific labor policies on women's likelihood to be employed in the affected industry and in higher-wage occupations within the industry of interest. Policy implications of our findings endorse the adoption of labor laws in favor of women to further their empowerment through a higher involvement in the labor market and financial independence. The third chapter examines strategic timing in the appearance of scandals about elected officials in the United States. In order to minimize negative publicity, politicians may strategically manipulate the timing of uncovering their own unpopular actions to coincide with other important events that are crowding the media and distracting the public. I start by developing a simple voting model to better understand the different mechanisms behind the timing of scandals' appearance. A forward-looking strategy implies that predictable news events may be used by politicians to distort public opinion. Using a novel data set of misconduct episodes from 1970 to 2020 and an instrumental variable strategy, I show that scandals are more likely to appear simultaneously with other foreseeable newsworthy events. I also examine the heterogeneity of different types of scandals and potentially different behavior across political parties. My findings suggest that Republican politicians are behaving especially strategically in timing the revelation of sexual and political misconducts.

The research was focus on exploring the growth strategy of small and medium business in Taiwan. We are interested in finding the orbit and the logic of Taiwan¡¦ small and medium business, which are growing rapidly and becoming global business recently. However, how to explicit the competitive advantage of business growth is a complicated and tacit task. The methodology of the research applied the grounded theory to do the qualitative analysis. After sampling from Taiwan passive component industry base on the strategic group, we will proceed the in-depth interview with the top management team of the businesses. The first-hand data and information from interview will be analysis, comparative, and coding repeatedly and iteratively. Gradually, the category and abstract concept will be emergent from the outcome of coding. The theory will be constructed from the relation of the concepts until the saturation it reached. The research founded that to catch the "strategic timing fit" was the orbit and the logic of Taiwan¡¦ passive component industry. There were three timing in the rapidly changing and creative environment: a) timing of technological paradigm transition; b) timing of production transition; c) timing of entrance and existence of competitors. The leaders of the firms in the case showed that they built the strategic capabilities and resources within the organization to meet the "strategic timing fit", which was the key factor of rapid growth in the past decade.

This study focuses on cyclical behavior in the restaurant industry, types of strategy choices made by the casual dining industry, and the use of the industry cycle to make a timing decision of strategy choice. The main idea of this study is that the phases of the industry cycle differently support a firm's strategy choice, so the use of the cycle allows firms to find the right time for a particular strategy choice. This is done by developing and understanding of the restaurant industry cycle and determining the phase of the cycle that possesses different opportunities and threats. This is followed by identifying strategy choices adopted by casual dining firms through a content analysis. Next, a casual dining firm's responses to phases of the industry cycle are investigated. Using an individual firm's data regarding performance and the emphasis of strategy choice over the industry cycle, this study undertakes an investigation into whether the effect of a strategy choice adopted by a firm varies according to the phase of the restaurant industry cycle. The results of the study revealed that the movements of the restaurant industry cycle have unique timing, duration, and amplitude, and that casual dining firms adopt thirteen distinct types of strategy choices. Firms change strategy choices to respond to change in the industry cycle phase. Summarizing these findings, the study found that the effects of strategy choices on firm performance differed according to the cyclical change of the industry environment so adjusting strategy choices over the industry cycle is critical to outperform competitors This study aims at providing a relevant framework for using the industry cycle as a tool for well-timed strategy choices in the casual theme restaurant industry. In practice, by utilizing the industry cycle, executives would be better able to assess possible success or failure of a particular strategy at different phase of the industry cycle, and to determine the timing relevance as it relates to new investments or asset allocation. Managing the industry cycle allows firms to have an appropriate strategic portfolio to maximize their outcomes and sustain competitive advantage over long periods of time. / Ph. D.